15 minute river-walk

What to do? It's a little late to get on any rides at Navy Pier so paying $20 bucks for parking just doesn't seem reasonable at all. As for on-street parking... well, there isn't any (that is unless you're a scooter or motorcycle). But wait! There's one spot in a 15 minute parking zone under a hotel. Let's take it.
Now the question is, how much of Chicago can you see in 15 minutes? Luckily we parked right next to the river so a quick speed-walking river stroll seemed the best option. It was short, sweet, simple, and over before I knew it.
We made it back to the car in time, just in case you were wondering. No ticket, no tow truck, no problem.

Unexpected

You'll never believe how I talked my way out of this one!

Oh, the things you'll see...

At this point in the summer I've probably knocked about 7,000 doors. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Well, in those moments between when I knock on a door and they answer, I generally look around and admire the many things found on people's steps and porches. Whenever I see something of note and no one opens the door I usually whip out my phone and take a picture. First, let's examine a few of the notable porch geese you're sure to come across in Chicagoland.

Don't ask me why they dress up their geese. Sometimes people will try and break the goose mold by putting out penguins or something crazy and unexpected.

Then there are the homes that don't take very good care of their exteriors. No decorations, but plenty of spider webs in the corners. It didn't take me long to realize that a favorite spot for spider webs is right by the door bell.

Among other interesting insects I found an extremely furry caterpillar the other day. After some research I came to the conclusion that it was a caterpillar destined to become a moth and not an elegant butterfly. However, that did not diminish it's coolness in my nature guide book. It's orange antenna thing and suction cup feet were fascinating!

No, there is never a dull moment on the doors. But the most interesting things I find on the doors are most definitely the people that sometimes come out from behind them.

New Phone

So I dropped my Razor, my first cell phone down some cement steps a little while back. The drop proved fatal and it forced me to get a new phone, which was something I probably should have done anyway. So after a weekend of suffering without any phone I went to the T-Mobile store and got myself the Nokia Xpress Music. It's a cool little phone. It's so small it might fly right out of my hand if the wind blows too hard though. The only complaint I have is that it is impossible to text message a true zero. I can replace it with a capital "O" but that doesn't work if you're texting Google for a Little Caesar's address. I read the manual and I've come to the conclusion that it's a software problem that hopefully will get corrected with a downloadable update. (I don't know if downloadable is a real word.) Regardless, I love my new phone.

Takin' out da trash

"Let's Keep Hood Clean"

Fortune Cookie

Happy Peruvian Independence Day everyone!

This last weekend good old Bob LeBaron was in Chicago, and I got to hang out a little with the pun master himself. It was nice to see a familiar face and it made me realize how anxious I really am for fall semester to start. Quick story...

So Bob calls me up to get the address and directions to my apartment on Friday morning. I get off the phone with him and walk into Panda Express with my roommate Chris. I ordered Beijing Beef and Mandarin Chicken but that's besides the point. Of course the first thing I do is eat the fortune cookie and cross my fingers hoping I'll get a good fortune. Little did I know how true my fortune would be. This is what it said:I was hoping for a more attractive visitor than Bob, but he did bring joy to my humble abode so I won't complain.

Nauvoo

I send out my apologies to the select few of you who actually read my blog. I've been out of the blogging loop for more than a month now. Doing door to door sales can be quite tedious and it's about that point in the summer that the thought runs through the back of my mind whether it's really worth it. The pain in my lower back is screaming, "It's not worth it!" But I remind my back that it's really not that bad of a job and that the solution to lower back pain is exercising my core muscles and stretching more often. Anyway, with this summer job weighing down on me, like I knew it would, my roommates and I agreed that it would be a good idea to take off a couple of days and get away. So on Sunday morning (July 13th) we hopped in the car and drove to Nauvoo where we planned to stay through Tuesday night so we could see the Nauvoo pageant. I mean, seriously, can you live in Illinois all summer and not take advantage of the opportunity to see Nauvoo? Well, about 30 miles from Nauvoo we ran into a detour which we hoped wouldn't be too long (after all we wanted to make it to the 2 o'clock sacrament meeting in Nauvoo). Well the detour ended up adding an extra 100 miles to the trip, which is not fun if you forgot to take a bathroom break before you started the trip... In the end, we made it safe and sound but we were about a half an hour late for church.
The only hotel room we could find available in Nauvoo was a room with bunk beds that could sleep nine. We took advantage of the extra beds and made the room into one big bunk bed fort! Now that's something you'd never get to do on vacation with mom and dad around. Room service I'm sure was shocked when they went in to give us fresh towels.
Nauvoo was spectacular and the pageant was amazing! I'm glad we went, it really was the perfect break. The spirit of those early saints is there in that city they built and loved. It is inspiring to see and think about what they left behind to follow the prophet of God across the continent. My life has definitely been blessed by their sacrifice. Here are some pictures from my trip, so enjoy!