Dan McCauley - Chicago Hero

A Taste of Heaven coffeehouse in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago, recently posted a sign bearing these words: "Children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices when coming to A Taste of Heaven". Seeing as how the owner, Dan McCauley, placed it there, you'd think there wouldn't be much of a problem.

Unfortunately, the Chicago Mommy Mafia has come down hard on Mr McCauley. They have organized a boycott against his coffeehouse, saying that the sign is discriminatory towards people with children. Mr. McCauley says he'd rather go out of business than back down, so it looks like for now it's a stand-off.

Whatever happens, as a former service professional, I will always side with people like Dan McCauley. Unruly children in restaurants are not only annoying, they're dangerous. Just ask any waitress with a coffeepot.

Detroit Santarchy

Live in the Detroit area? Like to drink? Enjoy dressing up like Santa, Mrs Claus or one of the elves? Then Santarchy may be for you!


Every year a group of jolly Detroiters dress up in holiday gear, hire a bus and invade about eight or nine bars on the Saturday before Christmas. Being a native Detroiter, I hope to join them this year, bad back willing.

Oh, my aching back!

For anyone who noticed, I've been away from polite society for a few months. At the beginning of spring, I was hit by a car while I was riding my scooter. The scooter was totaled and I was slammed down hard on the pavement, landing right on my tailbone. Ever since then, I've been having back problems that have steadily gotten worse, until it got to the point where I couldn't sit in front of the computer for more than five minutes without excrutiating pain.

I had to get an MRI, where I freaked out at the last minute when they started putting me in the tube. I ended up calling upon my long buried acting training to get through the half hour I was stuck in that suffocating contraption. I pretended I was the corpse du jour on Six Feet Under and if I moved or opened my eyes, I would ruin the shot. The MRI tech told me that she couldn't believe how still I was. Ah, success. BTW, the MRI showed a severely herniated disc at L5/S1 that was compressing the nerves in my legs and hips.

So, I've been on pain meds for months while I go to physical therapy and got lumbar steroid injections. Now the doctors are whispering that dirty word "surgery". Can't say that I'm thrilled about that option. They're going to give me another month or so to see if I get any better. Too much pressure!

Anyway, if you actually read this blog, I'm sorry. I'll try to post more now that I have adequate pain relief (at least for now). I'll also try not to whine too much about my back or any other physical ailments that I may have, though I won't promise not to talk about medical stuff every now and then.

Another Lomo

I thought I'd post another Lomograph, this time of Milwaukee Avenue, at Damen and North. The trendy triangle, as I like to call it. This one's a multiple exposure that I'm particularly proud of.

I used to live a couple blocks south of that intersecton about 5 1/2 years ago, but with gentrification came rising rent costs, so we moved west to Humboldt Park. Alas, the same gentrification process appears to be happening here. I keep hoping the bottom will drop out of the housing market soon, just so we (and others like us) don't get priced out of the neighborhood yet again. It feels like an invasion, one where all character and personality is whitewashed from the streets and then replaced by The Gap and a couple dozen "sports bars".

I was in the mood to post one of my Lomographs, so here you go. I took this one from the window of the car while Michael and I were driving on Lincoln Avenue. I believe that blurry, out of focus and surreal is the only way to experience Lincoln Park.

Texas Minutemen head quits, cites racism in group

What a shock! Bill Parmley, the head of the Texas Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, has resigned, because he hasn't been able to overcome the racism his group's members. Is this really surprising to anybody?

I know, I know

I'm the worst blogger ever. Two months between posts is horribly negligent. What can I say? I've had a lot of shit going on. I'm sure you know how that goes. Trust me, you don't want to hear about it. It's really boring and stupid. It involves a lot of working, sleep, lower back pain, doctor's office visits and arguments with my mother.

This summer is turning out to really suck ass.

Birthday weirdness

My sister has made 5:00 dinner reservations for my birthday on Saturday night. Something is obviously going on. I am highly suspicious. I kind of hope this isn't another attempt at a surprise party. I really prefer to be the one planning the event, not the guest, if you know what I mean.