Tuesday, August 19, 2008

August 19, 2008 -- Chicago question

I, Sandy, am preparing tomorrow for VERY minor surgery. I have two bumps on my right forefinger which don't hurt or inhibit any movement, but which are at the same time, VERY unsightly. So, when I showed them to Eva's orthopod and he said it would be easy and cheap to remove them, I said OK. I won't even be knocked out as this will be done with local anesthetic so that I can, I guess, watch the whole procedure of about 10 minutes. ( Update - one day later, I had the surgery which took about an hour, to dig out what looked like two small rubber balls which had rooted to my joint. Felt no pain but cannot even bend the joint or swim for a week. Fortunately, I can bathe tomorrow!!)
In this mood, I wanted to get some things done that I had been putting off for no good reason and one of those things was to get some photos framed. First we tried the superduper WalMart on the north side of town, but they don't carry frames, so we went to a store that had been recommended to us by an artist (gave it some street cred) and were happy with the selection and prices there, so dropped off the photos.
The owner of the store, a handsome man in his late 30s, waited until our business was concluded to ask us about Chicago. Taken aback, we didn't realize he had consulted our car license plate to determine our origins. He said he and his wife were going there in November for a convention and wondered what to see. We started rattling off a list (Art Institute, various other museums, Magnificent Mile, water tower for view if it's a nice day, architectural tour, the Bean in Millenium Park). He asked us what would we do when in town -- and we said theater, art galleries, restaurants, Chicago Symphony, walk in the park, butterfly museum. He stopped us mid-thought to rephrase his question. What he wanted to ask was -- what is the one thing that every Chicagoan would say you MUST see when in town?
We were kinda stumped. I mean it depends on the person's interests and time and blah blah blah. right?
Still, to answer him, I recommend the Art Institute since, if you cannot find something memorable and exciting inside those walls, you must be dead. Eva considered a Bulls game, but realizing Michael Jordan no longer played at the United Center, said a great restaurant and a bottle of fabulous red wine. So, all you Chicagoans reading this, what is your recommendation?