Our Memories from Chicago, Illinois (2005)

Erynn and I spent nearly two years in Chicago while I went to business school at the University of Chicago. More to the point, Erynn was my "sugar momma" working as a nurse for Northwestern Memorial Hospital while I lived the life of a student.

We moved from Chicago on July 21, 2005, and I thought I would share a few of our favorite places. Most of it won't mean anything to anyone but us. But hey, why not? If you're interested, complete hi-res photo albums from our time in Chicago can be found HERE.

We lived in a 30-story apartment at 100 W. Chestnut St. in the Gold Coast. It was very convenient to the Red Line Chicago Ave. stop and the shopping and restaurants on Rush and Michigan. It was a nice building, and except for one annoying doorman the people were great. However, it was a bit expensive and there was always one broken elevator. Therefore, I never recommended it to any of our friends.

While I was living the easy life as a student, Erynn was paying all the bills as a Nurse Transplant Coordinator at Northwestern Memorial Hospital near where we lived. This is a picture of her office building right of Michigan Ave.

The City of Chicago

The City of Chicago is huge and fun to live in. Everything is a bit expensive and has one of the highest sales taxes in the country, I think we're glad we spent a couple years in the city. I thought I'd share a few cool photos I took of the city itself. The picture on the left shows the Michigan Ave. bridge heading north to the Magnificent Mile. The picture on the right shows the Picasso statue in Civic Center Plaza, which is one of the many locations for filming Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

The picture on the left shows Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park, which was made famous in the opening credits of Married With Children. The picture on the right shows the Chicago River dyed green for the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.

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Here's a picture of my family and I on top of our apartment building with the Chicago skyline in the background. On this occasion they had driven up to watch the Northwestern-Ohio State football game. Having grown up in Ohio, we are all Buckeye fans. My dad swears he doesn't remember saying that he thought it'b be cool if I went to Ohio State for undergrad instead of Case so he could get tickets. Of course, Case is the only undefeated college in Ohio against Ohio State. No one mentions that it was in like 1892 and they've only played once. The actual NU/OSU game was terrible since the Buckeyes were beaten, but it was neat seeing an "away" stadium 3/4 scarlet and grey.

The University of Chicago

It's funny that after you attend a school for awhile, you always think it's the best school on the planet and that you couldn't imagine having gone any other place. The above photo shows our brand-new building in Hyde Park. My first year we had classes on the main university quads in older, gothic building, but moved to this new place for my second year. I much preferred the new building.

The University of Chicago proper is a strange institution. It's a fairly young university started by Baptists and funded with HUGE injections of money from John D. Rockefeller and the Ford Foundation. It quickly became one of the top universities in the country, and it is home to more Nobel Laureates than any other US uni. However, if you go there for a bachelors degree don't expect to learn anything practical. The only major they offer are in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences like physics and chemistry. There's nothing practical like business, engineering, communications, etc. The school stresses the "life of the mind", which implies a place where you can think "deep thoughts." Erynn and I both went to Case for our undergraduate education, and it is shaped quite strongly by it's strong foundation in engineering. We always joked that at Case people were geeks on the left side of the brain and on the right at U Chicago. Same dorky vibe going on, but on different ends of the spectrum. The business school where I went for two years for my MBA degree was a bastion of sanity and practicality.

The picture on the left shows the main atrium of the Hyde Park Center (HPC). I didn't write my $20 million check fast enough so they named it the Rothman Winter Garden after the guy who beat me to the donation. The picture on the right shows my friend Neel and myself in front of the HPC. Erynn and I went out to visit with Neel and his wife, Pami, after graduation and you can see some of the photos of the trip here.

I made my previous statements regarding the undergraduate students based on my experience rowing for two years with about 40 of them on the UChicago Crew. I did a bit of rowing with the team and ended up medaling at the Head of the Charles in 2003. Danny and Jeff are some of the nicest, most dedicated individuals I've had the pleasure of knowing. The photo on the left is of the Charles boat (from left to right: Mike, Danny, myself, and Jeff). The photo on the right shows us at the 2005 Dad Vail Regatta where the boys made me one the proudest coaches one could imagine.

Here are a couple fun photos. Like all urban campuses, there is a ton of large sculpture. Since the GSB got me the job at John Deere, I thought I'd take a photo of one of their pieces of equipment on campus. Actually the uni uses a ton of Deere equipment. It's good stuff, but also doesn't hurt that the CEO is an alum of the school too.

I graduated in June of 2005. My entire family came to watch. It was a great day, and I would do the entire two years over again in a heartbeat. It was one of the best things I've ever done in my life.

Chicago Eateries

Chicago has some great restaurants. I thought I'd share some of our favorite places. At the top of the list is Aladdins. They are based on Cleveland and had a location right near Case's campus. Erynn, Amy (Erynn's sister), and I all went to Case and ate their often. So when they opened a location in Chicago you can understand that we were a little excited. You can see Amy at one of dinners at Aladdins wearing her favorite t-shirt. Amy is working on her masters degree in education at DePaul and will finish up in the Fall of 2005.

Some of the best BBQ ribs on the planet can be had at Twin Anchors. We ate there more than we should. You can see Neel and Erynn in the left-hand photo both with big grins in anticipation of the fine dining experience to be had. Unfortunately, other people know it's good too so you often have to wait (they don't take reservations). You can just make out Erynn smiling in the right photo too. The best breakfast is at the Original Pancake House. We frequented the one near Rush St., but they are all good. On the weekend you always have to stand in line, and they don't take credit cards. In fact, we were constantly amazed at the number of restaurants in Chicago that were cash only. I have no idea why and never got a decent explanation.

Sporting Events

I was lucky enough to go to my share of Chicago sporting events. The professors at the GSB are top notch teachers and researchers. Some also like to have a good time. Here we are toasting Prof. Kashyap at a May 2004 Chicago White Sox game. He donated the tickets to a charity auction that students then bid on. Professors Hanna and Peltzman were also there entertaining us for the evening. It was cool hanging out with such world-renowned guys, and seeing how much they care for the school and it's students.

We went to a June 2005 Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland Indians game with our friend Ed who also went to Case. Go Tribe! The night was sponsored by the Chicago Case Alumni Club. The cool thing was that I caught a foul ball from Juan Uribe. I can't believe I have my eyes closed, but there is no way that both Erynn and I would both have our eyes open in the same picture.

In May 2005 we went to go see England play the U.S. in football (i.e. soccer) in Soldier Field. The cool thing was that in the midst of this huge stadium we got seated next to the Bristol City FC supporters. Check out our memories of living in Bristol. Go on show us your Bristol Cities!!! Aside from a few hooligans, English football fans are the best.

Parting Shots

And finally, I share with you a picture of Amy's Home Depot on North Ave. It's where she spent most of her time while not in school and where she met Chris. We would go and visit her all the time to try and stop her from killing herself due to boredom and idiot customers in the paint department. I've also thrown in a funny photo of Erynn in a wet suit as reward for making this far into this web site. Thank you. A few of us had the bright idea to do the Chicago Triathlon and Erynn rented a suit to see if she'd like the swim and join us boys.

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