Joys and enragements

Crime! Demolishments! Flickr pervs! Awesome Asian drinks! (But because of my slow method of uploading from my camera, I don't have the new photos; these are old.) A lot of things are going wrong, but I won't get into the dullest (mind-bogglingly insane MySpace trouble, in which I can neither sign in properly, or ever sign out, though I seem to get signed out somehow, and sign back in, and start the mess all over again).

This afternoon/evening I took the sort of old-fashioned rambling bus/L trip I haven't done much of recently. I went up to Montrose/Broadway, where a huge corner building I'd liked (kind of plain, but with some nice terra cotta detail) had suddenly been knocked down after standing vacant for ages. I figured it'd go eventually, but still I was shocked to see it (and the old Aldi, replaced by a new Aldi right next to it) completely gone. Before that, I went by the Y on Halsted just south of North. I'd seen it surrounded by fences a couple weeks ago and utterly forgot to go back. It's half gone, and I got upset--I never got really good photos of the whole colorful building. (This photo is some demolition not mentioned here.)

To cheer me up, I went up Broadway to the amazing Ba Le Bakery--it's been way too long--and had $6.44 of bliss: a tofu-vegetable sandwich, full of crispy/crunchy/chewy texture (and flavor), and one of their amazing drink/desserts from the cooler, made from "yuca, sweet potato, taro, tapioca, coconut milk, sugar." (I save the labels because I'm trying to sample all of them.) (The photo is from a grocery nearby on Argyle Street.) I checked out the areas around the Granville and Sheridan Red Line stops but didn't go to the coffeeshops there (they closed at 8 and it was already around 7, no time to relax). Another diner/family restaurant is gone--one right near Granville. No, not Standee's, but an oddball, fairly new place whose name I forget. I ate there once. The menu was half diner fare (omelettes, sandwiches) and half Chinese. I didn't think it would work, and it didn't; it's been replaces by a "noodles and rice" place.

I browsed the Borders on Diversey and got two buses home (wondering if the Nookies restaurant around 2100 N. Halsted is closed for good, or just today). To see that my bike--which I'd moved to a different parking meter today--was missing its back wheel. Well, I'd been wondering if that wheel was secure or not. I hauled the sorry mess upstairs and locked it to the hall railing. So much for warm weather biking. I do believe that's my first stolen wheel in 13 years with that bike!

So, I was angry when I got in and got worse when I saw SIX different telemarketers called in the few hours I was out (no, I'm not on the "do not call" list; usually it's not a problem, but I've had a few bizarrely persistent callers recently). Still, though, these are minor problems. Oh, and since my previous post, TWO more people (at least) have gone and taken photo sets at THAT hospital, while it still feels my photo set killed my page for a couple days. But I got a THIRD random Flickr guy favoriting a photo of me. This one added me as a contact. Sorry, not adding you back if you don't have any photos of your OWN, pal. But I learned about a lot of things I had no idea people were "into" by looking at your Flickr groups. (Actually, "Opaque Tights for All"--a "safe" group--is kind of tempting to join; I've got tights in every color. I just don't particularly want to post shots of my legs...)

In blog news, look to your right and see I finally added Women & Children First bookstore, which I'd bafflingly forgot to put on my list. And I added Landmarks Illinois. I feel weird now, knowing I use preservation watch lists, as, well, shopping lists of a sort. (For instance, the hospital below.) Oh, and this photo? This is an old shot of a particularly good trip to Stanley's produce market; they're very cheap so it probably cost $2.19 and pocket lint for all that. I posted it to shame myself into buying produce; the squash I cooked the other day was the only produce I've bought for a month or more!