So this morning we left Tucson and headed north to Phoenix, well Scottsdale to be technical. Its about a two hour drive but my sister and I played Mario Kart DS most of the way. Of course I was superior and triumphed in the best time.

When we made it to the Phoenix area we went to the cool shopping area right away to look for presents and jewlery. We all ended up buying stuff at this one store we really liked. Alot of the places there are very pushy and annoying but this one was run by a really nice guy so we were happy buying stuff there.

After we were done shopping we headed to our AMAZING hotel. Its a AAA 5 diamond resort, basically its one of the nicest you'll ever see. We are in a hotel room that is the size of a decent size apartment.

We had dinner at the amazing cowboy steak house, but not Amy she didn't get any steak. She had to get PF Changs. So now we are heading off for late night pool action. Cheers all...

Well today was our last full day in Tucson, tomorrow we head up north to Phoenix. I got up about 9:30 and found a note from our parents that they were at the pool so I got ready and my sister and I headed to meet them at the pool. We got there and ended up just going to breakfast instead. This put my sister into a snit and she was intent on not "running around all over" today. So in the end she stayed behind at the pool and we went out.

First we drove to the San Xavier Misson. This is supposed to be a really cool and very old Spanish mission on an indian reservation. Well we get there and half of its covered in Scaffolding. LAME. So we went on and then went to Old Tuscon. Its a place were many famous westerns were filmed and its not a tourist trap. I remember it being super awsome when I was a kid so I really wanted to go. Well its not as cool as I was a kid. It was pretty tacky actually. We stayed for a while and then hit up Bookmans on the way home. Thats the used bookstore the size of a Barnes and Nobles. It rocks. I got a couple magazines and thats it sadly.

After that we went to the pool for like 3 hours then had to go to the Maccaroni Grill for dinner. We couldn't have gone to somewhere different that is not available to us at home. No we had to go to Maccaroni Grill. I'm not really fond of it, and the food i got today was kind bland but I lived. So now the whole trip my sister was talking about Beaver Hunter one of the porns on the in room pay movie channels. So i basically dared her to order it. So now we are watching it. Its so bad lol.

Today my sister woke up at like 7:30 and of course she managed to wake me up also. She proceded to leave for the pool/breakfast right away. I tried to go back to sleep but failed. So at about 8:30 I left to meet them at the pool. Well I found my sister and parents having breakfast, I didn't care since I had a PBJ in the room, my sister got the breakfast buffett. OMG it was $18.95!!! I guess she ate alot but eek still! So we swam til lunch then showered up and drove and had lunch at Scholotzky's Deli, YUM!

We drove to the Sonoran Desert Museum then. We stopped at a scenic look out that overlooked Squaro National Forest. It is a very beautiful area. I got some great pictures, I hope. We finally arrived at the desert museum and it was really sweet. They had tons of desert animals and cacti and other things. Things that happened at this place: Lots of pictures were taken, I saw a bunch of Javalinas, a hummingbird almost landed on my cubs hat and it scared me, my sister got a bug/plant bite and it iched really bad. I can't wait to develop my film, that place was sweet.

We got to see alot of lizards there too, not only there but they are just running around out by the Hotel also. Its really alot of fun to see random lizards running around. They are alot of fun to spot and then follow. They like to do what looks like push ups while standing still. My sister the science nerd says its them showing dominance. So I guess the lizards dominate us. Woahhhhh...

After the museum it looked like it was going to storm, and it did later. So we hung around the hotel room for a while trying to figure out if it was really going to rain. So we figured it would, and like I said it turns out we were right, so we went to go see a movie. As a family we went to see Nacho Libre. I've seen it before and really enjoyed it, and it was just as enjoyable the second time around. Its not as laugh out loud funny as Napoleon Dynamite, but it is a good show. Yes Bridgett I did enjoy a movie nachos this time :)

Amy steak count: 22 oz. none today :(

So once again I'm posting from Tucson. Today we woke up at about 9:30 or so and got going and then got some breakfast, my sister had to have Bruggers Bagels, which I hate. So by the time we were done there I was going to get McDonalds but wah wah wah it was now too late. So I had to have burger king :( Then we went to the mall to get Jamba Juice, but ended up also going to Macys, Bath and Bodyworks, EB Games, and Dillards. I bought a cool polo ralph lauren shirt that has a flying scorpian on it. I also purchased Mario Kart DS which is fun indeed. So after that we stopped and got some bottled water and then went back and headed to the pool. We got in and swam for about two hours then it started raining and then we had to get out due to thunder :( It started raining really hard, and boy was it cold. So we came back to the room and after a while headed out to go to this awsome used bookstore where i picked up some used photo magazines then had dinner at this steak house at this cheesy "wild west" tourist town. Now the best part of it place... THEY HAD COWBOYS OF MOO MESA THE ARCADE GAME!!! It was amazing. It was a realy cool arcade game also, tons of fun. I was very happy to play that game. Amy had steak at dinner but a small one that also had a breast of chicken with it. So... Amy steak total: 22oz.

So we flew into Tucson yesterday and got here at 6pm local time (8pm back in Chicago). The local temperature was a cool 100. Not shabby. We got our rent-a-car and headed south to Tombstone. I remember someone asked me about tumbleweeds and I said no we wouldn't really see any, well I lied. There was a dust storm and on the two lane highway tumbleweeds were blowing across the road, and we hit one. It was sweet. The hotel in Tombstone was kinda tacky but the dinner we had in town was great. My sister is having a challange this trip, to try to eat 100oz. of steak. Her goal as of Saturday: 14oz.

Today we woke up and drove to Bisbee which is an old mining town, looked around, took some pictures and had lunch. It was a very cool little town. We drove back then to Tombstone since all the tourist traps were open. It was so lame, no pictures were taken by me. We stayed for a short time then headed out. We ended up going to these Caverns called the Kirtschner Caverns since my mom wanted to go. My sister was having a hissy fit about them but whatever. The caves sucked wicked bad. There was just a paved lighted walk way through them, and it smelled like a warm moist gym locker room. The worst was the final part where you sat down and they did a light show of the giant stalawhatevers. SO BORING. Now we are back in Tucson, in 5 star accomidations, and I finally have WIFI Huzzah! The plan for now is i'll post every night so check back. Amys steak goal as of Sunday: 14oz. :(

Poor guy looks like that fat Saved by the Bell loot has run out, if you look here you can read the article and find out where to buy a signed t-shirt to try to save his house. Anyone going to help?

So on Thursday we went to the Cubs game and sure enough they managed to blow a lead and a wonderfully pitched game by Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano pitched wonderfully through 7 innings. Then Dusty, being the moron he is, brought in Bob Howery and he proceded to blow it. He didn't take him out finally until the damage was already done and the game was already lost. Other than that it was amazing. They were the best seats i've ever had, they were 4th row right behind home plate. You could see us basically every pitch on TV. So I guess I'm famous now ;) Going to Cubs games are alot of fun, sitting that close makes it even more fun. I wish I was wealthy and could afford some season tickets that close. Now that would be a hell of a time. So have any of you been to a Cubs game before?

I just wanted to remind everyone that even though I will post some pictures here from time to time, the vast majority of my photos are going to be here so don't forget to check that.

On Sunday I picked up my new nintendo DS lite. Its awsome. It looks like an ipod just a little bit larger when folded down. Its so sweet, I got new super mario bros alont with it and all i can say is WOW. Its so much fun, it feels like an update on a good old classic. I highly recommend both.

Thursday we've got tickets for the Cubs game vs. the Houston Astros. Originally we were going to be sitting in the 8th row in left field. Then Bridgett's boss gave her tickets for the same game we were already going to. Well the tickets she got instead are like 3rd row directly behind the back stop. So if you are bored tune into WGN starting at 1:05pm you probably will see me if they really are as close as I plotted via the seating chart. Pictures will follow in the future.

Enjoy :)

So I'm sure some of you have heard some of Paul Simon's songs, well he has a famous one about not taking his Kodachrome away. Well I shot some and it took over a month and a half to get developed. That is thanks to it having to be sent out to get processed. It is only developed in 3 places in the world, so my film was sent out to Kansas, glorious Kansas. So here is my favorite shot from the roll...

A couple of months ago as some of you may be aware, the Adult Swim took a big chance and did two week of re-runs of saved by the bell on Monday-Thursday. At first my knee jerk reaction was "WTF?!?" I was shocked and not 100% happy that they were putting a live action show on the Adult Swim. Once I saw the first episode though I have to say I was sold. It was a great fit. They did amazing promos for the show and they just really seemed to fit well. In the end I wished they would have kept it on for longer than just 8 total episodes. Well fast foward to today. I found a wonderful new topic on the front page of Yahoo in the entertainment section THIS All I can say is HOT DAMN! What live action show could possibly be a better fit than Pee-Wee's Playhouse? I loved that show when I was a kid, and I really feel bad for Paul Ruebens. He was just a casulty of Americans inane obsession with celeberitys personal lives. So what if he jacked off in a PORNO theater? It was after all a PORNO theater, thats like saying they are going to arrest a woman for breast feeding at a maternity clothing store. But Fuck Yes I can't wait to see some Pee-Wee's Playhouse on TV again!

Ok so I thought you guys deserved one more. Here is another picture from the same roll that the previous one is from. I took the original image, cropped it, reversed the image to a negative, upped the contrast a ton, then lowered the brightness a ton. Gotta love Photoshop its a great tool.

Ok so people actually responded to my post. Huzzah! So I will give more. Infact I'll give you a little present...





This is a photo that I took on the State St. bridge over the Chicago River. It was a warm day in spring, middle of April. I had a lot of time between classes so I went for a walk and started taking pictures. I probably walked about 4 to 5 miles that day in all but it was very envigorating. I was testing a roll of film here and taking a picture of the Marina Towers. I love the Marina Towers, I would love to live there some day. I think for me that is pretty much my dream place to live in Chicago. I'm not even sure if they are the nicest place but they represent Chicago to me. I lovingly refer to them as the "Wilco Towers", due to them gracing the cover of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot the wonderful Wilco album that if you don't own by now you should really just go and buy. So my question for discussion lets talk about things that represent a place to you. What specifically if you see it will just scream Chicago to you?

So yes I have been asked in the past by one Andy Kayacan to post on my blog again. Why bother though? I have nothing really to say, no one reads it, and blah blah blah. But tonight he dropped me an IM simply saying "post on your blog", before i could respond dashing that idea out of his mind he signed off. So now I have to do a blog entry since I couldn't say no. It was Andy playing dirty. But I bit, I took the bate and if you are actually reading this, but yes I know you aren't, well then you know that I took the bate. So here we go...

So i was watching Adult Swim reading GQ, a must read for all men, and I stumble upon an article declaring Chicago Americas new top culinary city. Basically it is guys being pretencious and "artistic" with food. Who really needs a 20 course "tasting course" menu for $175? Now don't get me wrong a couple of the things seemed intresting such as doughnut soup and flash frozen flapjacks done at your table. But all in all it seemed lame and over done, something that I would never try. I read it anyways though since it was Chicago, my beloved Chicago. So at the end they have the writers bio that says to go on to GQ.com and look up his archive that includes, hello, Americans Greatest Cheeseburger!!!

Now any of you who know me know I love a good cheeseburger. I have my favorites and I've tried many. So I read the article. Once again the guy seemed pompus, I'd wager he is an East Coaster, but to be fair i skimmed so I don't know if he is. Well anyways 1 of the places is from Chicago, Poag Mahone's on South Wells. Now I've seen this place before its in an office building. Chicago's best burger is not in one of its many lovely neighborhood establishments, but in a faceless boring office building. This office building isn't even one of Chicago's finer ones it is just a plain glass structure. As he is praising the joint he rips on Chicago's ability to make a good burger, and the Cubs (Fuck you to him). Why don't you read it and lets have a round table discussion on the state of Chicagos cheeseburger industry, or just cheeseburgers in General. Or hell i'll even talk Cubs with you, but if one of you bastards post about the WhiteTrash Sox i'll just delete the comment so don't push your luck ;)