my random ramblingsan infrequent (and these days, mostly Mira related…) blog

met up with Pete, Heidi, Alex, and Peter after work for dinner at Legal Sea Foods. nice to see them, been too long. hope to get together with Alex and/or Peter over the next few weeks before leaving Boston.

hung out in the hotel most of the day, even managed to catch up on some work. skipped the masters performance and instead only watched the regional elite competition. a shame Лена wasn’t allowed to compete as she would have won easily, but she wasn’t feeling up to it anyway. not as interesting as the first night, but still fun.

drove out to Tinley Park for the 2 day championship. first up on Friday night were the rookies, which was painful to watch, followed by the pros who were very impressive and made the night worthwhile.

working from home again – fantastic to be here for the second week in a row. crossed the street and walked all of 5 minutes to Pritzker Pavilion for the show. great acoustics, and a perfect setting for a concert. had good seats in the center, 10 or 12 rows back from the stage, and was able to see everything clearly. DCD sounded great, although the set list was a little too heavy with newer stuff, but i guess that’s to be expected. wonderful night, grabbed some sushi on Michigan Ave on the way back home.

busy day working from home, wrapped up and took the train out to Lincoln Park. walked through a bunch of stores, but still no decision. another train ride over to Dave & Buster’s as Лена wanted to eat their potato skins. skipped the games and eventually grabbed a train back to our place, then crossed the street to Grant Park to hang out and play cards. nice night, great to sit in the fresh air, and we ended up being the last ones chased out at 11 pm when the park closed. can foresee Grant Park becoming a frequent ritual next summer for those days we’re feeling cooped up in the apartment.

working from home, crazy-busy as always. doctor visit for Лена, then off to the airport and flights to Boston. landed around midnight and found out Лена was having severe nausea issues, so had Kunaal take her to the hospital as a precaution. spent about 3 hours in my hotel, then was on the 5:30 am Tuesday morning flight back home. arrived downtown as Лена was discharged, soon was back home and resting, crisis thankfully averted.

finally wrapped up construction of the office on Saturday. Sunday morning swung by Home Depot to pick up some supplies for the finishing touches. lunch down the street at Italian Village to satisfy Лена’s craving for spaghetti carbonara. caught a late showing of The Campaign which had me in stitches… got back and picked up some sushi and soup around the corner on Michigan, then a late night walk to the lake. ended up taxiing to Bubba Gump’s at Navy Pier as Лена wanted some crab. nice not to fly out on Sunday nights…

doctor’s appointment and first ultrasound. was an interesting experience and really enjoyed hearing the baby’s heartbeat. Лена hasn’t been feeling so great, and unfortunately it’ll probably continue that way throughout the first trimester. i’m going to be a daddy!

bunch of folks dropped by for a bar-q-que and pool party. great time, probably got too rowdy, but i guess that’s to be expected. definitely need to see this crew of characters more often.

drove past literally thousands of people massed in the street for Lollapalooza, all on the move and taking cover from the impending storm. stopped at a number of boutique furniture stores in River North, as our quest for the perfect sofa continues. bunkered down in one of galleries as the skies turned black and an intense rain relentlessly pounded the streets. grabbed some food at CPK then picked up a juicer before heading back to our apartment. back out for a late shopping trip so i can put the juicer through its paces.