Category Archives: Lowell

Kim, Lowell, Night, Self-Portrait, Street Photography, Travel, Work

The Windy City: Day 6

July 28, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time for the final collection of pictures from my work trip to Chicago for the Computer Mine. Day 6 was the last day of The Big Convention. It is the slowest day and ends with everybody leaving except for me, Lowell, Kim, and Tony. We sit around for anywhere between an hour to 4 hours waiting for the crates for our equipment to be brought so we can pack up and hit the road. In Miami it was close to 4 hours. In Chicago it was about an hour.

Here is that collection:

What was left in the snack closet.

A Computer Mine competitor.

People in Chicago don’t even care about the White Sox.

Another Computer Mine competitor.

Next year the Big Convention is in New Orleans.

Best part of the Big Convention.

Being torn down.

Tony sent this picture to his mom. She didn’t enjoy it.

All in all it was a good trip. But it is time to start sharing pictures of different trips that I have taken. Still haven’t shared pictures from the Christmas Lighted Parade in Oskaloosa…

Art, Cathie, Elizabeth, Lowell, Michelle, Scottie D., Street Photography, Travel, Work

The Windy City: Day 3C

July 7, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I have a confession to make here. When I decided to combine cell phone pictures with the “real” camera pictures into the same posts, I would have made my life a lot easier if I had realized that I hadn’t changed the clock settings on my camera after Daylight Savings ended or began or whatever it does in the spring. For that reason, putting the pictures in chronological order is something that fails me at times.

Anyways, we will begin where we left off last Friday. Lowell and I had walked to Buckingham Fountain, just to see that it wasn’t turned on. After the disappointment we began walking to some restaurant where the sales team hosts everybody for apps and brews at a restaurant as a “thanks” for working the Big Convention.

View from near Buckingham Fountain.

Chicago Rules? This should be a universal rule.

I wish I knew what this sticker said, but I do know that generational wealth is one of the great evils of our time.

I really don’t know what this is.

The Bean again. But this time you had to go through a security checkpoint to see it.

The Bean from farther away.

I had never heard of Garrett Popcorn, but apparently it is where it’s at in the popcorn world.

I was tasked with bringing back popcorn for Elizabeth and for Scottie. D. Elizabeth’s order was more complicated.

I left the “party” to go get the popcorn. But I decided to head back.

On my way back I saw the signs of the houseless situation in Chicago.

Walking back to the hotel with Jodi, Michelle, Michelle, Lowell, and not pictured Cathie.

Remember when I said Lowell’s room had a much better view? I wasn’t foolin’.

That mural is way better than the nachos at the Taco Pub.

Have I mentioned that I love street art?

This mural was on one of the walls of the hotel.

That concludes Day 3 of the work trip to Chicago. Day 4 was like a 13 hour work day. My only pictures are of the Big Convention. So I might combine Day 4 and Day 5. We’ll see where it itches when we get there.

Animals, Art, Black & White, Lowell, Music, Railroad, Street Photography, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

THE WINDY CITY: DAY 3B

June 30, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Time for the second collection of images from Day 3 of my work trip to Chicago. The final day of any real photography… for the most part. The rest of the days were filled with work… boring work.

When we left off, Lowell was feeding birds in a park street corn from a food truck:

They loved the street corn so very much!

Buckingham Fountain – I should have known it wasn’t running, but we walked like a mile to it…

To get a heavy dose of disappointment…

Still cool looking though…

And just begging you to go wading in it…

Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams…

It’s Herbie Hancock…

Would’ve been pretty cool if it had been on.

My Grandpa Paris had lion sculptures flanking his driveway. I don’t know why everybody doesn’t.

One more collection of images from Day 3 of my trip to Chicago to share.

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NOTE: WHILE NEXT MONDAY ISN’T A HOLIDAY IT IS THE DAY BEFORE A HOLIDAY, I MIGHT BE BUSY ON THAT DAY AND YOU MIGHT BE BUSY THAT DAY, SO MAKE PLANS FOR SUBMITTING ACCORDINGLY.

This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is RETAIL:

RETAIL

RETAIL! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

An astute observer that has a physical Photography 139 Calendar may notice that this week says MUSIC and not RETAIL. That was a typo that wasn’t caught by my proofreader. Mostly because I didn’t have my proofreader look over the calendar. So don’t take a music picture, unless it is at a music store. This theme was suggested by Elizabeth.

While this is the first time that RETAIL has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, it isn’t the first time that a similar theme has been used. Check out these submissions from the past for inspiration for this week:

Week 18 – Sarah Karber

Week 141 – Micky Augustin

Week 141 – Christopher D. Bennett

Week 390 – Sarah Toot

Week 390 – Elizabeth Nordeen

This is the last of the Friday Reminders. Nobody made a case for keeping them going, so apparently they won’t be missed.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Art, Black & White, Carla, Cathie, Flowers, Jesse, Kim, Lowell, Michelle, Micky, Nature, Pastor Sarah, Railroad, Street Photography, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

The Windy City: Day 3A

June 23, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Day 3 of my work trip to Chicago was the last day I really got to take any pictures of consequence. Every day after this was mostly filled with boring work stuff. Including Day 4 which was like a 13 hour or so work day. So after we get through the pictures of Day 3, the rest of the days will just fly by. Probably.

I started Day 3 wandering around the streets around the hotel taking a little photography before the Computer Mine training session that lasted from like 8 AM to like 12 PM. Or at least it did for a few of us.

I love street art so much!

You didn’t think I wouldn’t post some flowertography, did you?

Well, did you punk?

I didn’t know Chicago also had a Harlem until this moment.

Almost… almost enough bird poop for me.

Would you believe that Kim has never ridden on a train? Not even a subway?

Almost enough dirt, rust, and grime for me.

More tulips in this flower bed than all of Orange City.

I didn’t bring any of my normal flowertography lenses, but that is okay.

This guy invited Tony to a party after inviting him to a party. Tony did not attend cause he is a fun hater.

And maybe this conversation was the impetus for Tony to think about quitting smoking.

4 hours of my life that… well you know. But Steve V. was pumped.

In Miami we spent most of Day 2 trying to get machines working. In Chicago we only had to spend a couple hours tinkering with machines. Kim was pleased.

It took a long time for Lowell and I to find lunch, but eventually we stumbled across these food trucks.

Like 6 of 8 were taco trucks.

I love the mascot so much!

Lowell fed these guys some of his street corn.

And they couldn’t get enough!

After eating, Lowell and I headed for Buckingham Fountain, but that is a tale for another day.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ‘SCAPE:

‘SCAPE

‘SCAPE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a ‘SCAPE picture? The “‘” in the theme name allows you to substitute in a few words. Your submission could be a LANDSCAPE or a WATERSCAPE or a CITYSCAPE.

Well for one thing, it is a great theme for me to remind you that you can include the town your picture was taken in or the county and I will include that with your submission.

Did you know that the first photograph ever taken was of a landscape?

“View from the Window at Le Gras” was captured by Nicéphore Niépce, in 1827. It features a very abstract view from Niépce’s window.

It would be another 12 years before somebody would think to take a “photograph” of a stupid human. I assume the 2nd picture ever taken was of a dog.

With this theme, you are literally touching the absolute deepest root of photography. Wow! That is powerful to think about. But maybe you are still confused about what LANDSCAPE photography is. Here is a definition from the Wiki:

Landscape photography commonly involves daylight photography of natural features of land, sky and waters, at a distance—though some landscapes may involve subjects in a scenic setting nearby, even close-up, and sometimes at night.

Photography of artificial scenery, such as farm fields, orchards, gardens and architecture, may be considered “landscape” photography as well. Even the presence of man-made structures (buildings, roads and bridges, etc.) or art (such as sculpture) may be considered “landscape” if presented in artistic settings or appearing (or photographed) in artistic style.

Further, landscape photography is typically of relatively stationary subjects—arguably a form of “still life.” This tends to simplify the task, as opposed to photography of kinetic or live subjects. However, landscape photography often overlaps the activity of wildlife photography and the two terms are used somewhat interchangeably; both wildlife and landscapes may be elements of the same picture or body of work.

This isn’t the first time that ‘SCAPE or something similar was a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Here is a look back at a few submissions from years past to inspire you:

Carla Stensland – Week 60

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 111

Sarah Karber – Week 111

Jesse Howard – Week 165

Micky Augustin – Week 223

Nobody objected to me killing off the Friday reminder. So next Friday will be the last Friday reminder. Then it will go the way of the dodo bird.

Happy photo harvesting!

Baseball/Softball, Carla, Cathie, Elizabeth, Flowers, Kim, Lowell, Macro, Micky, Sara, Shannon, Street Photography, Travel, WPC - Reminder

The Windy City: Day 2C

June 16, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This final collection of images from Day 2 in Chicago start as I was doing a walkabout of Wrigley Field. When I was a kid I really loved baseball, but as an adult that love has really waned. I hate to say it, but baseball is boring and it takes WAY too long. Plus things like analytics have really ruined the game. However, I have to applaud Major League Baseball. The changes they have made to speed up the game are fantastic. It was late in the game before I knew it. It was much more enjoyable than the game I went to last year in Miami. Not just because it was in a much better stadium or involved a team that I despise.

But we continue during my walkabout:

The right field scoreboard.

Right field.

The iconic manual scoreboard.

Lowell. The usher in our section was livid that I took this picture. I thought she was going to kick me out of the stadium.

She is on the right.

Left field.

Every other usher in this stadium was cool. Except ours.

I think there was a chance I could have snuck in here, but I didn’t press it.

Would be cool… someday.

Good Sport Section… something that doesn’t exist at the Boone National Little League Park.

Sorry, I really dug the left field area.

Big screen outside of Wrigley.

Not a bad seat in the… okay lots of bad seats at Wrigley.

This is unique, but probably necessary because so many seats with obstructed views.

This girl. Think about the thing you love most in the world. Think about how much you love your children or your dog or your car. This lady loves the song “Y.M.C.A” more than you love your children. She worked the entire section during the song. Then shortly after it was over she started dry humping Kyle Schwarber’s leg until he was ready to leave. I think she is a national treasure.

The Cubs let me down and let the Dodgers beat them. I guess it doesn’t matter since the Padres SUCK!!!

Wrigleyville.

This made me think of Carla.

I love stoned Mr. Peanut!

Reminds me of Miami Beach.

We didn’t eat here, which I’m considering somewhat of a miss. But our Uber driver did pick us up here.

We took an Uber back to the hotel. I think we mostly crashed. It was our last day without the rest of the miners around. Tomorrow was potentially a very busy day.

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NOTE: I’M THINKING OF DOING AWAY WITH THIS FRIDAY REMINDER. LET ME KNOW IF YOU STRONGLY OBJECT TO IT. IF THERE ARE NO OBJECTIONS, I WILL END THESE AT THE END OF THE MONTH.

This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is FLOWER:

FLOWER

FLOWER! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a FLOWER picture? Come on! You aren’t new here. You know about Thursdays! A flower picture is simply a picture of a FLOWER. Live, dead, painting, sculpture. Doesn’t matter. Time to get your flowertography on! Or as Micky might say, your flower porn on!

This is not the first time that FLOWER has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Have a look at some past submissions for inspiration:

Carla Stensland – Week 45

Micky Augustin – Week 95

Cathie Raley – Week 118

Elizabeth Nordeen – Week 205

Kim Barker – Week 259

Shannon Bardole-Foley – Week 316

Sara Lockner – Week 351

Christopher D. Bennett – Week – 95

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Baseball/Softball, Black & White, Dad, Lowell, Slice of Life, Street Photography, Travel, Work

THE WINDY CITY: DAY 2B

June 9, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Last time we left off with The Windy City Chronicles Lowell, Tony, and I had just arrived at Wrigley Field. Due to rain, the game had been postponed an hour. This gave us some time to walk around Wrigley Field and take in the ambiance of Wrigleyville.

I don’t care about the Cubs one way or the other, but I hate the Dodgers.

It would be pretty sweet to watch a Cubs game from a roof top.

Apparently the souls of the children Harry Caray murdered?

Would also love to watch a game from the bleachers.

More expensive to watch a game from there than from inside Wrigley Field.

A beautiful view.

Majority of concession stands at Wrigley were self-serve, which kinda sucked.

I never actually had a Chicago Dog in Chicago.

My Savannah Bananas shirt made me popular with every usher in the stadium, except the one in our section.

The salespeople showed up about halfway through the 3rd inning. They left about halfway through the 4th inning. At least that is what it felt like.

Still one more collection of images to share from Day 2 of my work trip to Chicago.

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NOTE: THERE ARE SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS WEEK’S THEME, SO MAKE SURE TO PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THEM. JUST DON’T SKIM BY THEM. NOT THAT ANYBODY DOES THAT. EVERYBODY HANGS ON MY EVERY WORD.

This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is SLICE OF LIFE.

SLICE OF LIFE

SLICE OF LIFE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what exactly is a SLICE OF LIFE image? This is where I normally give you kind of a broad definition of the theme, but not this week. For those that don’t know SLICE OF LIFE is the name of the postcard company that my Dad started and ran out of the basement darkroom in our house.

Here is the Trade Name documentation he filed in March of 1984:

He passed away in December of the same year.

He specialized in black & white postcards of local interest. Here is this week’s assignment. It is to take a picture that you could see being used on a postcard. Now back in the day, they used to take pictures of all sorts of things and put them on postcards. So don’t think that there is nothing in your area that would make it on a postcard. It could be a building that is interesting looking or has a historical significance. It could simply be a pretty scene. Back when I was doing THE POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT, sometimes they took pictures of downtown intersections and put those on postcards.

While I will require your submission to be a postcard like image, meaning don’t try to “interpret” Slice of Life to mean something different, I will only strongly encourage you to submit the picture in black & white and also only slightly encourage you to throw some text on the image, if you have the editing skills or software.

There is one more thing. The is the one and only theme where if you write a SHORT description of your image (like you would see on the backside of a postcard) that I will include it along with your submission.

Here are some examples of my Dad’s postcards that will hopefully inspire you (excuse the low quality of the scans):

I don’t manipulate the order of themes for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I put the 52 themes in a random generate it and then I have it generate the theme the number of times as there are letters in the name of my favorite person at that moment*. EXCEPT for this theme. This theme I put this week specifically. This week is my Dad’s birthday. So it seemed apropos to put the theme that is an homage to him during this week.

Happy photo harvesting!

Angie, Art, Baseball/Softball, Black & White, Carla, Flat Earth Joe, Kim, Lowell, Naima, Pastor Sarah, Photoshop, Sarah Toot, Street Photography, Travel, Work

The Windy City: Day 2A

June 2, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Day 2 in Chicago was the first day where I actually had to work. Kim was setting up things at the convention center in the morning and let us know when to head over to do our thing. Tony, Lowell, and I got breakfast at the hotel and then walked around the neighborhood a little bit. We scouted out the location of Garrett’s Popcorn and then looked for a mailbox that was closer than the one I had found the night before.

I wish more things in Iowa were covered with stickers.

There was supposed to be a mailbox in this building but it was closed.

I’ll do my best sidewalk sticker.

Here’s the best part. In the convention center there was a mailbox. Problem solved.

The Computer Mine Booth. Kim got a guy fired for smoking a joint while putting our booth together. Narc.

And that made us popular with the rest of the union guys.

Computer Mine Booth, reverse angle.

Hooking the HDMI cables up to these monitors and then getting these monitors mounted, what dreams are made of… I meant nightmares.

Tony’s thinking pose.

Home the next several days.

The reception desk.

The closet. Where union guys go to change pants and miners go to hide from customers.

The snack selection. Tony, Lowell, and I crushed those Slim Jims. Not sure anybody else got any.

Hello Kim!

Only slightly smelled like pot.

After we were done, we headed outside to catch an Uber.

It took us about 15 minutes to get to the convention center on the shuttle in the morning.

It took over 30 minutes to get back to the hotel.

Which sucked because we were going to a Cubs game that night and we were in a time crunch.

Our Uber ride back to the hotel.

The ride from the hotel to Wrigley Field was about 45 minutes. We got there 30 minutes after the game was supposed to start.

Which ended up being okay, because the game started an hour late.

Still plenty more pictures from Day 2 to share. Most of them from Wrigley Field.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is TEXTURE:

TEXTURE

TEXTURE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE! Also, this theme was suggested by Sarah Toot.

But what in Wes Wallace is a TEXTURE image? Well, let’s start with the definition of TEXTURE: the structure, feel, and appearance of something (as a fabric) the smooth texture of silk. wood with a rough texture. In photography that means: the visual depiction of variations in the color, shape, and depth of an object’s surface. What you are trying to do here is to convey the feel of the surface of an object through photography.

This is not the first time that TEXTURE has been a theme. Here are some past submissions for TEXTURE that might get your creative juices going:

Angie DeWaard – Week 17

Carla Stensland – Week 227

Sarah Karber – Week 227

Tamara Peterson – Week 227

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 227

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Art, Birthdays, Cathie, Kalista, Kim, Lowell, Micky, Naima, Night, Street Photography, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

The Windy City: Day 1C

May 26, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Today is Kalista’s birthday, so happy birthday Kalista!

Hope your day is as amazing as you want it to be!

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We begin where we left off last Friday. Kim, Lowell, Tony, and I were hanging out by The Bean after having supper at Giordano’s.

The Bean is one of the few touristy things I’ve seen in my life that didn’t disappoint. But something else on this trip did disappoint.

Underneath The Bean.

In Las Vegas I never found a mailbox. I marked this one so I could actually mail postcards from Chicago this time.

I loved this clock.

I think the Nederlander Theater was called The Orient Theater, before they realized that was racist.

Jagged Little Pill was playing, which Jesse wants to go see in Minneapolis.

Right next door to it is a Garrett’s popcorn, which I would go to twice on this trip.

The historic Chicago Theater.

I wanted to hit up the Torture Museum so bad, but I never made it. And that is what regrets are made of.

Reverse angle, Chicago Theater.

There was a wide variety of acts that played here while we were there.

Window shopping at the Torture Museum.

Across the street from the Chicago Theater was this alley with a bunch of sweet murals.

This mural may have given me nightmares.

After this we went back to our hotel rooms. I think Tony and I watched the Minnesota Timberwolves get crushed in their playoff game. I dozed off after a pretty good Day 1 in Chicago.

Next Friday we will start in on Day 2.

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REMINDER THAT NEXT MONDAY IS MEMORIAL DAY. WHILE YOUR BANK AND THE GOVERNMENT AND A BUNCH OF OTHER BUSINESSES TAKE THE DAY OFF, THERE IS NO REST FOR PHOTOGRAPHY 139. RISE AND GRIND EVERY SINGLE DAY. I DON’T KNOW WHAT MY PLANS ARE FOR MEMORIAL DAY (OTHER THAN MAYBE SLEEPING LATE AFTER WHAT I HOPE IS AN EPIC MOVIE NIGHT ON SUNDAY) BUT IT MIGHT INCLUDE A ROAD TRIP OR A BARBECUE OR A FEW OTHER OPTIONS THAT MIGHT KEEP ME BUSY. LIKEWISE YOU MIGHT BE ENGAGED IN A SIMILAR ACTIVITY ON MONDAY MORNING. YOU MIGHT NOT GET A REMINDER AND YOU MIGHT NOT BE IN A POSITION TO SUBMIT. PLAN ACCORDINGLY.

This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is PARK:

PARK

PARK! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what in the John Culbertson is a PARK image? Simply put, it is a picture taken in a PARK. And there are all sorts of PARKs. There are city, state, national, baseball, softball, playgrounds, nature preserves, urban, pocket, sculpture gardens, cultural… just to name a few. Of course, there is more than one definition of PARK.

Also, if you take a picture of a PARK, let me know the name of the park and I will include it in the entry on Monday. If you don’t, I might ask you.

PARK has only been a theme one other time in the 10 year history of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE/RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT. I was actually surprised, because I thought that it had never been a theme before. I guess this makes it the second time.

Here are some previous submissions that will hopefully inspire your submission this time:

Micky Augustin – Week 195

Cathie Raley – Week 195

Kim Barker – Week 195

Andy Sharp – Week 195

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 195

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Anders, Andree, Angie, Art, Baier, Bill, Black & White, Carla, Elizabeth, Jason, Jay, Kelly, Kim, Lowell, Michelle, Micky, Nader, Nathanial, Night, Sara, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Shawn Lockner, Steph, Still Life, Street Photography, Teresa, Travel, WPC - Reminder

The Windy City: Day 1B

May 19, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start out by thanking everyone that wished me a happy birthday. I believe this is a comprehensive list of everybody that wished me a happy birthday.

+ Kim and also thank you for buying me birthday Buffalo Chicken tots and the card.
+ Ron, Clevenger, Jordan, and Aaron. Although I may have bought those birthday wishes with donuts.
+ Elizabeth and also thanks for buying me candy bars I know you don’t like but the real thanks goes for looking for my favorite candy bars the Whatchamacallit and the Take 5! You are the real hero! Also, glad you are digging SHRINKING! Such a great show!
+ Steph. My birthday buddy, I hope FAST X was everything you wanted to be and I’m trying not to lose just a smidge of respect that you went to it.
+ Jesse – Sorry I was so aggressive in accusing you of eating all the mystery cheese.
+ Nader – Thanks for the frog statue!
+ Shannon- half credit for including a picture of a gross cat with your birthday wishes.
+ Michelle – good job taking a three day weekend to celebrate my birth.
+ Jay – doesn’t look like you got any rhubarb. It isn’t going to pick itself.
+ Kelly – thanks for the kind words. Not necessary, but thanks.
+ Angie – hope the postcard arrives soon.
+ Monica – thanks for sending me the picture of me in my Hulkster phase.
+ Suzie – thanks for knowing the proper animal to include in a happy birthday wish!
+ Jason – glad you are feeling better!
+ Bill – thanks for replying “no problem” when I said “thanks”. Don’t know why, but that amused me.
+ Sara Lockner – thanks for almost using enough exclamation marks in your birthday wishes!
+ Shawn – I’m sorry your wife used up all the world’s supply of punctuation in her birthday wishes and there wasn’t any punctuation left for yours.
+ Faust – thanks for pretending that banking sounds fun.
+ Teresa – thanks but I have my doubts you know who Dwight Schrute is.
+ Anders – I don’t know if it was a great one, but I’m sure May Movie Night will be.
+ Sarah Toot – Thanks for thinking I have the slightest clue what emoticons mean. Don’t feel pressure to do better next year.
+ Alexis – thanks for letting me think today was my day.
+ Baier and Dre – We didn’t have much interaction, but thanks for thinking of me.
+ Micky – thanks for multiple birthday wishes. It isn’t a contest, but if it was I think Elizabeth won. At least I think that is what she yelled at me as I walked out the door. But your message was the closest I came to having cake today. So that is something.
+ Lori – thanks, no need to apologize for transferring me my favorite kind of call, even if I really shouldn’t have been first in queue. Hope things went well today.
+ Mark – thanks. I suppose I should learn when your birthday is. Also stop using your desk for storage. Nah!
+ Lowell – thanks for the gift card. I like to think you would get me one even if the company didn’t require it.
+ Carla – thanks for getting your birthday wishes in right before the buzzer.
+ Nathanial – thanks for the final birthday wishes of my day.

I think that is the list. I think that is everybody that wished me a happy birthday! Thanks everyone!

If you are wondering what I did for my birthday, it was nothing super spectacular. It was mostly an average day.

I woke up about 5:54 AM. A little late for me. I was up late last night watching the NBA Playoffs. Then trying to watch the season finale of THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND. Dang it! This wasn’t the season they actually found treasure. And I was so sure! I also ate fried food the night before. I’m trying to eat healthier, so it is fairly rare I eat fried food these days, he said hoping that there were people that believed him. Point is I slept in. It was my birthday. Cut me some slack!

I’m not sure what I did when I first got out of bed. I think I moved to the couch and watched the news for a little bit. Then I went outside and watered the flowers. I also took apart the trunk in the Camry. I had a slight gas spill in the trunk the night before and it was creating a pretty strong smell in the rest of the car. Then I took a shower. Brushed my teeth. Got dressed. But on cologne option #2. Said goodbye to Naima. Got in the Camry. Headed out.

There is an old birthday tradition at the Computer Mine where on your birthday you bring in food for the other employees. On a good day, there are about 10 employees in the building. (On a great day there is less.) On this day, half those people were gone for various reasons. On my way to work I stopped at the Dutch Oven Bakery and picked up a dozen donuts for my co-workers.

This is a small detail of what transpired on my birthday, but perhaps one of my favorite things that happened.

I left the donuts in the breakroom and then sent an email out to the people I knew would be in the building. Here is the backstory.

About 2 weeks, Elizabeth brought in a dozen donuts from a bakery in Nevada. (For the record, and I might get rode out of Boone on a rail for saying this, these donuts buried the ones from Dutch Oven.) She cut all the donuts in half. Now I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain why, but I will. She cut them in half so that people could try multiple donuts and multiple people could try the same donut.

Back to my birthday. Based on my current work schedule, Ron gets to the building about 30 minutes before I do. Elizabeth gets to the office about 15-30 minutes after me. She is in Special Forces so she can come and go as she pleases. I guess that is really more backstory, for what I’m promising you isn’t much payoff.

So back to that email. I explained in the email that there were donuts in the breakroom for my birthday. I didn’t cut them in half (cause I’m lazy – I didn’t write that, but it was in the subtext) but maybe when Elizabeth got here she would cut the donuts in half. I added that this wasn’t sexist on my part, just she is very passionate about the donut cutting thing.

Here is the “payoff”. I’m telling you that the ink wasn’t dry on that email before Ron was standing next to my cubicle. He wished me a happy birthday and then said that he was going to go get a donut quick before Elizabeth got here and cut them in half.

I said it wasn’t much of a payoff, but I thought it was hilarious.

I think it was somewhere in here I went to take a Snap of the donuts to keep my Streaks going with Logan (501), Brandon (257), Nathanial (89), Fran (37), and Alexis (23).

Somewhere after this, Elizabeth did come in. She did not cut all the donuts in half, but she did cut the donuts she tried in half. Take that Ron! She also brought me candy! So the day was off to a great start.

After that I put in a good solid 8 hours for The Man. I was a problem solving machine. Well to be honest, in the morning I mostly did a lot of rando stuff. I think the highlight of my morning (besides the other stuff I’ve highlighted) was being on hold with a customer for about 30 minutes as they repeatedly rebooted their computer before announcing, I’ll have to call you back.

Then came my lunchbreak. I did point out that I am trying to eat healthier. That means (amongst other things) that I only drink pop once a week. I’m pretty much completely off fast food. I rarely eat fried foods. This means that one of my favorite haunts, B-Bop’s has been off the table. But I figured it was my birthday, I could treat myself to B-Bop’s.

I drove halfway across Ames and got the #2 with Cheese with a Large Pepsi.

Sidebar: A great birthday present would have been the B-Bops across the street from the Computer Mine opening back up so I don’t have to drive completely across tarnation to get B-Bops goodness. They have been remodeling for months now! How long does it take to remodel a restaurant that doesn’t have a dining room?!?!?

It was just as good as I remembered. Although, I could feel the salad place next door judging me a little bit. But I literally ate there the day before. Asian Crunch Salad, no protein. So I think we’re square. Stop looking at me lettuce!

After I got back to the work I was a machine. Updating Server Managers. Modifying hosts files. Attaching SQL databases. All a beauty of motion, while sitting in a desk chair staring at 3 monitors. Barely taking a break to try to solve the mystery of what happened to the missing (I failed).

I called it a day, leaving many a satisfied customer in my wake. (Which means next time I work I won’t be able to solve anybody’s problems.) I drove home. I like to take a route home (sometimes called Old 30) where I drive by a bunch of railroad cars just parked along the highway to see if there is any interesting graffiti to photograph. There wasn’t anything transcendent like a painting of a dog or a clown or characters from The Simpsons, but there was one I found photo worthy. I pulled over and snapped a photo. I’m collecting these images and when I hit about 20 or so I will share them. This is what passes for an art scene in Boone.

Got home. Said hello to Naima. Then mowed my back yard. Which needed to be done before it became a 3 man job… again. I was supposed to have a meeting with my friend Kelli. She is opening a wine bar and wants to use my photography on her walls. I was supposed to look at the space and kind of figure out what we wanted to put there, but that meeting got postponed cause, from what I’m gathering, one of her kids did something dumb. Like go to Grand Junction.

The cancellation opened up a hole in my schedule and I was able to take Naima to Dickcissel for a walk and some wading for her. It was also a good time for me to take the theme reveal image for next week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme.

There was a decent rain coming down on us when we completed the loop. Which meant Naima was soaked all over. I consider this to be a positive though, because the smell of wet dog masked the smell of gas. Not much of a trade up, but small victories.

I decided to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream on our way home since I’m eating healthier. Unfortunately, the line in the DQ drive-thru was crazy long, so instead I drove across town to Big Kahuna’s. This is a considerable upgrade in the quality of the ice cream for me, but it meant Naima didn’t get a pup cup. Sorry, Naima. Don’t feel too bad for her. She did get a full pork chop for supper. Me? I had a cherry amaretto ice cream waffle cone for supper. The supper of champions!

I came home and started watching the Lakers-Nuggets game to finish off my night. While sitting there I got a snap from Nathanial asking for my opinion on his options for the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. He is the second person to ask for my opinion. Meanwhile, humble narrator, hasn’t even given any consideration to what he will enter. Usually at this point I at least know at least 2 of the pictures I will enter. This year I have absolutely no clue. I mean that could be a weekend project, but I don’t know I’ll have much time this weekend either. I guess we’ll see what happens.

After the Nuggets won, I watched a little bit of “90s Nation” on MTV Classic and called it a night. Nodding off into a golden slumber listening to the “Morbid” podcast on H.H. Holmes. Part 4. All in all, a pretty good birthday.

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We begin where we left off last Friday. Lowell, Tony, and I were walking around Chicago waiting for Kim to get done getting good union employees fired for smoking a joint while putting up our booth. Kim has no chill. We were going to checkout a place called Zombie Taco as a potential place for supper. Kim had told us that we were to pick the place for supper. Tacos are always a good choice. That is free advice that I’m giving you, that I wish I had listened to on Day 3 of this trip. Unfortunately when we found Zombie Taco it seemed to be only a walk-up window and on top of that, it seemed to be closed.

But back to the walkabout.

A play on “This American Life”. My favorite radio show. But I’m not sure what it means.

I think this place was abandoned.

Never let anybody tell you, wearing Skechers is not cool. I wear them. Snoop wears them. Tony wears them. Elizabeth’s Grandma used to wear them.

My greatest regret from the trip to Chicago is not taking a river cruise.

I wonder if this was the boat that the Dave Matthews Band dumped their poop on. As awful as that must have been, still better than listening to their music.

Chicago has a fair collection of interesting bridges.

More street art.

Down to the River Walk.

Another interesting bridge.

It was around here I met a lady that was walking a golden retriever. Such a good dog. Also, more street art.

I’m guessing this is to protect you from Dave Matthews dumping his poop on your head. Now if they could devise a way to protect you from his awful music.

I assume Dave Matthews put that there.

I’d tell you what I think of Salesforce, but enough work talk.

There is also a Dick’s Last Resort on the San Antonio River Walk. This parking garage is an excellent example of why I would never want to live in a city.

But it is pretty to look at.

My #1 goal of the Chicago Trip was to see The Bean. Crossed it off the list Day 1.

After telling us to pick the restaurant, Kim picked the restaurant. Which fortunately, was 1 block from The Bean.

The WPC theme this week was FRIENDS. Nathanial told me I could take a picture of my reflection and I could be my own FRIEND(S). I have FRIENDS Nathanial. Still a cool shot.

The sculptor (Anish Kapoor) of The Bean at first hated that people called it that. It’s official name is Cloud Gate.

It is made out of 168 stainless steel plates welded together.

It’s highly polished exterior has no visible seams.

It measures 33 x 66 x 42 feet.

The design was inspired by liquid mercury.

I still have one more collection of images to share from Day 1 of the trip to Chicago.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is HAPPY!

HAPPY

HAPPY! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what in the Dave Rauker is a HAPPY photo? Simply put, it is a picture of somebody that is HAPPY or a picture of something that makes you HAPPY. HAPPY is, well it is a feeling of pleasure or contentment. In case you aren’t sure you know what it means to be HAPPY.

HAPPY has been a theme one other time. Here are a few of the submissions from that time to provide you with some inspiration:

Suzie Brannen – Week 71

Kim Barker – Week 71

Stephanie Kim – Week 71

Angie DeWaard – Week 71

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 71

In fact, that was pretty much every submission I received for HAPPY. I bet there will be more submissions this time.

Happy photo harvesting!

Cathie, Kim, Lowell, Michelle, Still Life, Street Photography, Tenderloining, Travel

Chicago Food Adventures

May 14, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I’ve decided to lump all of my Chicago food adventures into one massive post. I was in Chicago for parts of 7 days and ate meals there on 6 of those days. Some of them great. Some of the good. Some of them bad. All of them photographed.

I started the trip with $481 in the Per Diem Fund.

Meal #1 – Day 1 Lunch – Capriotti’s

My goal whenever I travel is to eat in a place that isn’t near me. I actually failed twice on this trip. First, was Capriotti’s. I didn’t know it at the time, but there is actually a Capriotti’s in Clive. I don’t regret it though because this was one of my favorite meals on the trip.

Cost: $22.74
Per Diem Balance: $458.26

Meal #2 – Day 1 Supper – Giordano’s

Giordano’s is the second restaurant I ate at that I could have eaten at in Iowa. I’m not a big fan of Chicago Style Pizza. New York Style Pizza is also trash, if you think I’m taking a side. While the appetizers were good at Geordano’s the pizza was definitely not all that great.

Cost: $30.02
Per Diem Balance: $428.24

Meal #3 – Day 2 Breakfast – Wow Bao

Also one of my favorite meals. Wow Bao was actually in the hotel and if I wasn’t trying to spread the wealth, I might have eaten there more than once. It was also dirt cheap. I don’t drink coffee because I don’t actively hate the environment, also it tastes like ass, so they gave me milk for free. Which was a bonus!

Cost: $5.91
Per Diem Balance: $422.33

Meal #4 – Day 2 Supper – Wrigley Field Concession Stand

I really thought I would eat more at Wrigley than I did. Especially considering I didn’t have time to eat lunch. I have to say that the concession stands at Wrigley were a real disappointment. I thought there would be better food options at a Major League Baseball stadium. Especially one as historic as Wrigley Field. But my “Bison Hot Dog” was just okay.

Cost: $17.70
Per Diem Balance: 404.63

Meal #5 – Day 3 Lunch – Taco Truck

The area where we stayed at was very nice, but it is lousy with corporate restaurants. Lowell and I probably walked close to a mile to get to some food trucks that were near The Bean. It was worth it. This was one of my favorite meals on the trip. There were 8 food trucks there. 6 of them served tacos. They mostly all seemed to serve the same menu. I’m not even hating. 6 taco trucks isn’t enough if you ask this guy. My only regret is also not getting an order of Mexican Street Corn.

Price: $13.50
Per Diem Balance: $391.13

Meal #6 – Day 3 Supper – Broken English Taco Pub

Between the Street Tacos and the Taco Pub there was a Computer Mine “Party” hosted by our Sales Team (or whatever they have been branded as this week) that included free appetizers. There are no pictures of that and it was free. I made a pretty huge mistake by not going for tacos at a place called Taco Pub. I zigged when I definitely should have stayed the course. These were amongst the worst nachos I’ve ever had in my life. The nachos at The Other Place hold the distinction for the “Worst Nachos Ever” for me. At least it was free. For reasons I don’t understand, Cathie paid for everyone’s meal at the table. It was about the last time I saw Cathie socially on this trip. She lost her voice the next day and I don’t know she ever left the hotel besides to go to the convention. I need to find a way to pay her back at some point. Like maybe she could make me monkey bread and I could eat it. I think that would make us square. I should have bought her meal at Zeno’s. Dang it!

As for the group photo… It is the only one from this trip. The THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE for most of my time in Chicago was FRIENDS. I briefly toyed with the idea of having servers from various restaurants take very poorly lit group photos of all my meals and then submit them to THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE under the name “Our Server at Place X”. But I didn’t do it. Maybe if I ever go on a work trip again.

Cost: FREE! Thanks Cathie!
Per Diem Balance: $391.13

Meal #7 – Day 4 Lunch – McCormick Place Food Court

I should have been like Tony and done a walkabout of the Convention Center and scouted out all of the food locations. I only knew about the balcony food court. There was a long line for the “burger” place up there. So I just grabbed a wrapped Caprese sandwich. I was trying to eat a healthy option and I do like a good caprese sandwich. This wasn’t it. I don’t want to give a way the ending of this blog… so I won’t.

Price: $15.00
Per Diem Balance: $376.13

Meal #8 – Day 4 Supper – McCormick & Schmick’s

This was supposed to be the most expensive meal of the trip for me. But, once again it was free. Gina paid for my meal and Lowell’s meal. I got the New York Strip which I think was in the $40-50 range. I added an extra side of grilled asparagus, which was around $11. Then I got their “Classic Crème Brûlée “, which was around $10. I wasn’t trying to stick it to Gina. I ordered all that stuff anticipating paying for my own meal. Then she picked up the check for Lowell and I. I should have anticipated that happening though. It is her move.

But there are two incidents at the restaurant I need to bring up. As Micky can tell you, I like a good bantering with the server. I had an intense discussion with the server about the dessert menu. As you can see from the pictures above, for the dessert I had crème brûlée . I have no complaints about it. It was excellent. It wasn’t what I wanted though. On the dessert menu they had something called “Chocolate Bag”. The menu described “Chocolate Bag” as “White Chocolate Mousse and Fresh Berries Topped with Whipped Cream”. What the menu doesn’t tell you is all of that is put in a bag. A bag made of chocolate. Yes please!

Only the answer came back, “No!” McCormick & Schneebley’s or whatever this dump was called, was out of chocolate bag. I had to settle for crème brûlée like a commoner.

The other dessert menu moment was the reason I love banter. On the dessert menu was “seasonal” cheesecake. When I inquired about what the current “seasonal” cheesecake was and what the cheesecake was for the other seasons is, the banter escalated to the point where the server said, “Yeah, for the spring cheesecake we should serve it with a dead bird on top of it!” Bingpot!

Cost: FREE! Thanks Gina!
Per Diem Balance: $376.13

Meal #9 – Day 5 Lunch – Connie’s Pizza

Another lunch on the convention center floor. Connie’s Pizza wasn’t great, but a considerable upgrade over the sandwich I choked down the day before. I was thankful to Tony for pointing it out to me.

Cost: $12.00
Per Diem Balance: $364.13

Meal #10 – Day 5 Supper – Soju BBQ

Kim’s Meal Before

Kim’s Meal After

I might give Kim a hard time for having a Midwest white woman’s palette, but she was a trooper for giving Korean BBQ a chance. Even if she ate next to none of her food. She at least gave it a shot. So snaps for Kim for challenging herself.

I on the other hand loved this meal. Everything was fantastic! The “Kimchi Dumplings” that Tony ordered was possibly my favorite food item I had on the entire trip. Also snaps to Tony for going out to eat with a group larger than 4 people. Which is some kind of arbitrary rule he established for himself.

I haven’t had Korean barbecue since DaeHee’s mom made some for me. I made sure to send him plenty of pictures of it, cause I’m a swell guy. He was slightly jealous. By slightly, I mean extremely.

Cost: $37.00
Per Diem Balance: $327.13

Meal #11 – Day 6 Lunch – Robinson’s No. 1 Ribs

The final day of the convention. This is basically a polish sausage with barbecue sauce thrown on top of it and grilled onions on top of it. It was by far the best thing I ate on the convention floor. If I had found it first, I might have just had it three days in a row. A guy I’ll assume was Robinson said, he would “hook me up”. And I think he did. I have no complaints about it.

Cost: $16.25
Per Diem Balance: $310.88

Meal #12 – Day 6 Supper – Lou Manalti’s

Way back on Day 1 I stated I don’t really like Chicago Style Pizza. Give me a good Quad Cities Style Pizza and we are talking. But Chicago Style Pizza doesn’t do much for me. However, this pizza might have changed my mind. This was one tasty pizza! I would have this pizza again in a second! It was a perfect way to cap the trip!

Cost: $33.75
Final Per Diem Balance: $277.13

Day 7 didn’t involve any eating. At least not eating I would consider that came out of my per diem. We got up early. Didn’t eat breakfast. Flew back to the Cyclone State.

Those of you with a keen memory might recall that I did go through the drive-thru at Ted’s Coney Island on my way back to my house, but I don’t count that towards the per diem.

If you are wondering I’m doing with the extra $277.13 I just pocketed… I guess I spent some of it to send some of you postcards that I think maybe 2 of you cared about. I also bought a Chicago magnet for my fridge. But truthfully, the full $481 went into savings. A couple of weeks ago I outlined some goals I have. One of those goals is to switch banks. I took this coming Friday off as a birthday present to myself. My big plan is to start the process of moving banks. At the very least I will open a couple new accounts in a new bank. Actually a credit union. I don’t know how long it will take me to phase out of Bank of the Bear, but at least the process will finally be started.

The last bit of business for this blog is that I want to rank my Chicago meals from worst to best.

Chicago Food Adventure Power Ranking

12. Caprese Sandwich – Convention Center Food Court
11. Nacho Mama-s Nachos – Broken English Taco Pub
10. Sausage Pizza – Connie’s Pizza (Convention Center)
9. Bison Hot Dog – Clark Street Grill (Wrigley Field)
8. The Special – Giordano’s
7. Super Polish Sausage – Robinson’s No. 1 Ribs (Convention Center)
6. Breakfast Bowl – Wow Bao
5. New York Strip Steak – McCormick and Schmick’s
4. BBQ Chicken Cheese Steak – Capriotti’s
3. Street Tacos – Sabor Taco Truck
2. Malnati Chicago Classic – Lou Malnati’s
1. Korean Brisket – Soju BBQ

If I still make the cut for next year’s convention team, it is New Orleans. That could also make for a fascinating food adventure. We’ll have to see what happens.