Chicago City Center Hotel: You Are Rather Mediocre

I don’t stay in a lot of hotels – the universe is generous to me and often finds a way to insinuate me into the homes of locals. I declined that offer this time because I had the idea that sprawling solo in a swank downtown hotel would be a fun and unusual diversion. I …


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I Am the Passenger

When I wandered back from the loo, he was folding himself into the center seat. I was bummed because I was hoping it would stay empty, of course. The guy was a thin, sandy haired guy in a pilot’s uniform, stripes on his shoulders and we were delayed. A lot. The kid in the window seat, a nice looking hipster with a newer digital camera, snapped pictures out the window while we sat on the runway. As we rolled back to the terminal and again, back out on the runway, we started to talk.


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Fish Wednesday: Seaside Hooky Edition

When you get up as early as I do – and really, it’s almost so early as to be embarrassing – it’s not a great tragedy to knock off around three to go to the beach. It’s not a crime to sit in the sun and slurp down a Tully’s espresso shake, not if you’ve …


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White Center

Related White Center is Not Capitol Hill [tags]White Center[/tags]

Fish Wednesday: Fish Talk Edition

“Do you have any questions?” he says to me, and yeah, actually, I do. I’ve asked the nice gal that works at Seattle Fish Company about the Chilean sea bass before and she assured me it was sustainable, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy it. So I ask again.

We get to talking, the fish guy and I, and he introduces himself. His name is Paul and he owns the market. I tell him how I’ve been writing about fish, shopping for and eating fish, for a while now. About my homework around buying fish for my plate, how I’ve talked to the conservation guys at the aquariums and oh, yeah, now I remember, I talked to the fancy organic market buyers too. Paul asks me when I’ve last had Chilean sea bass and honestly, I can’t remember. “Today might be the day, ” he says.


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Glass Houses

Two Brazilian guys showed up on my porch yesterday morning. They proceeded to crawl all over my house, make a huge racket, and throw stuff into the yard. They were supposed to do that. They also broke one of my windows, which they were not supposed to do. It was totally an accident, I get …


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