I’ve come to the conclusion that most everyone in Chicago seems to smoke.  You can’t walk around downtown more than a minute without seeing someone smoking a cigarette!  It’s no big deal when they are off to the side smoking, but when you all of the sudden end up walking behind someone and a huge puff of smoke hits you in the face it’s most unsettling!

The other thing that you see a lot of is people talking on cell phones.  It’s most disturbing when they are walking along and using either a Bluetooth headset or one that looks like headphones.  I don’t think some of these realize just how loud they tend to talk using those.  Although I’m sure I’ve done the same thing annoying someone else just talking on my cell phone.

Another interesting thing is the number of times you get asked for money.  I sat and watched a girl walk around and tell her story of how she was in Chicago visiting her son who was in the hospital (she of course only looked 16 at best) and how she had her purse stolen and needed money.  “Sorry, no cash on me”, I told her.  I saw at least 10 people give her various amounts of money over a 30 minute period. Many of the people who asked me for money were extremely polite.  “Sorry, no cash on me” I told a young man.  “Thank you sir, for your time.  You have a beautiful day.”  He replied.

The sheer number of people just blows me away about this place and the variety of ethnic backgrounds is astonishing  I come from Springfield, MO and there’s just not the melting pot of people you see here, which is kinda sad in a way.

One last observation…taxis…wow, there are a lot of taxis and they are crazy!  They’ll just about run you over in a crosswalk even when you have the right a way.  Boy do they like their horns too.  It’s plain to see that at least 5 vehicles in front of the taxi are at a complete stop with no way to move forward and yet they will lay on their horns like there’s no tomorrow followed by leaning out their windows and yelling at the 5 immovable cars in front of them to move!  I watched at least 6 taxis pull up behind an empty, parked SUV and honk their horns and yell at the SUV to move.  Then taxis behind the taxis behind the SUV would begin to yell and honk.  Amazing.

Chicago is a fascinating and interesting place to visit, but there’s no way I could live here!  :)

I’m sitting outside a little cottage we rented at a place called Big Cedar Lodge. It’s a cool weekend get-a-way place with lot’s to do.

We’ve done canoeing, putt putt (that I actually won for once!), swimming and some nice trails for walking. Check out my moblog for some shots I took my Treo 650.

I’ve been surprised that the camera on the Treo isn’t better than it is, but overall I do like the Treo 650. I get back tommorrow and immediately am headed to Chicago. I’m really looking forward to doing a bunch of shooting while I’m there.

I made it through the blah’s of a bad summer cold.  But now I’m into a lack of time.  I’m really wanting to get out and shoot, but between taking an evening class and a MCSE test scheduled for this Friday and some software I am really needing to work on in my spare time I’m just not getting there.  I’ve managed to get some shots off and in a couple of weeks I am looking forward to a couple of days off work and away from responsibilities to wander around downtown Chicago shooting to my hearts content.  Let’s just hope the weather co-operates!

I’m really looking forward to getting back to writing and coming up with some more photographer’s tips.  If any of you have some great ideas you can share that would be awesome!

The definition of “hiatus” = A gap or interruption in space, time, or continuity; a break. That explains the frequency at which we’ve been posting here lately.

The reasons? A serious summer cold/allergies. Implementing and Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 evening class. Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional test scheduled for this Friday. Travelling for work. Add to these events Church, Family, a couple of major projects at work and a couple of addictive Nintendo DS games and you’ve got a recipe for overload.

Time seems to be flying by as fast as the subway appears to be in this shot.

The look on this fish’s face sums up how I feel and have felt for about a week and a half.

I haven’t felt like writing, I haven’t felt like shooting and I haven’t felt like processing shots. I haven’t been around to look at other photoblogs either. Add to this the temperatures outside, taking an evening class, major projects at work and trying to balance Church and Family life.

I thought the cold/allergies yuck I’ve had was breaking up yesterday as I was feeling much better, but today I’m right back where I was. Oh well, enough whining for now I guess.