Occupy Chicago?

Ok, so I went down to the Chicago protests. It has been a very interesting day. First, I rode the brown line down to the library, where I got off and walked down to 500 S. Michigan Avenue on the advice of the occupychi.org website. There wasn't anyone there. So I made a right turn and headed down the road toward the stock exchange. And when I got there it looked like this:

Not a whole lot to see. But, it's a big place, so I made another right turn and wandered down the street. And it looked like this:

Not what I would call a good turnout. It doesn't even look like the people that go there every day went there today. Now bear in mind that the website said that I should go down to 500 S Michigan because of the overwhelming numbers that they had, but I haven't seen anything yet. I thought maybe it was a revolving door thing and that they had marched down the street one block away, and maybe I was just behind them. So I kept walking.

And still no protest. Now at this point I am actually right around the corner from them, but there isn't any indication of anything going on to the people eating out here. But at the end of this courtyard, there they were. Here is a short piece of video I filmed just to give the idea of what it is like. Sorry it's so shaky, I'm a shaky guy. Hosana.

So that's what it really was. I couldn't count how many people there were, but it wasn't a lot. Not even enough to block the sidewalks. Now, I got back on the website, and saw that they were moving to 500 S Michigan to shout out about their demands at 7pm this evening, so maybe there will be more people around for that. Please notice that the police in my video are far from what I had heard about when I went looking for some news, These guys (maybe three?) are hanging about and chatting with the kids. As for the protest itself, just a bunch of noise. If you're so angry you need to drum, this is the place to be, otherwise I am not sure what it might accomplish. I really would have thought that two weeks in there would be something more organized. The website makes it seem like there is a lot going on, but I would say there isn't.

So i left. They weren't even chanting together most of the time, and reflecting off of the stone walls made everything loud and a little unbearable. And as long as I was downtown, I figured I would catch some photos of good things happening in the city today.

First, let me say it was uncommonly nice out. The kids were in the park playing in the water. I would have told you one week ago that was finished this time of year, but it's just not so. The leaves are starting to change, and the weather has been crappy, but today stood out. Yesterday wasn't so bad either, I guess.

Over at the Art Institute of Chicago's Gardens Fall has been coming in fast.

And that's about that. I wandered around for a few hours, taking photos of all kinds of stuff that wasn't Cloud Gate, because I can't stand that thing. And then I circled back around and climbed aboard the mighty brown line again to go back home. There is a chance that i get back out tonight, but Kelly has asked me to come and hang with her up North, and I probably will.

Hosana. Praise Hosana. Praise Rang Dipkin.

Going Mobile?

Alright, so I have downloaded the iPhone app for this and I am about to hit the streets to get some footage of the protests that are supposed to be happening down at the Chicago Board of Trade. Hosana for that. It's been more than a week since things kicked in here. I haven't seen it yet. Who knows what it might look like. I guess that they need some things, maybe. If you have some to spare, consider checking out their website http://occupychi.org/ 

I'm sure that they will take what they can get. They also have a forum section on the tabs  at the top of their page, so read a little more. Maybe you have something to say? Never know.

I haven't picked a side yet, mind you, because the news hasn't really been on it. Sounds like people are wondering why all the rich people are so rich while everyone else is going broke. Seems like a legit problem, as far as I can see. The other side has simply said things like "They have no demands, they have no solutions".

I guess that's true. But how can they know what is wrong when the problems are being caused by the people that report problems? Do we expect them to tattle on themselves? Probably not.

It's like America went to the emergency room and they won't treat you unless you can diagnose yourself. You have all these symptoms, problems, things going wrong, and you remember when they weren't like this, so you know that there is something really wrong, but they won't help you.

You can usually tell when there is a crime being committed when people are acting like criminals. How are they acting?

And the police and the media seem to be protecting the rich, as expected.

I'll see soon. Hosana. I hope I don't get pepper sprayed. Or worse, arrested. Praise Rang.

testing123

mobile blog test. gonna be hitting the streets soon. just want this to work out there. Hosana.

My Ohio Trip Last Weekend. (Kelly is part Tang)

Well, it's still early. That's what happens when you haven't had a job for a few months. You get to a point where you don't know what time it is. You also spend a lot of time by yourself while everyone is at work, and again at night because you can't afford to get out. So for the last three months I have been hanging around. But last weekend I did have an interesting trip to Ohio with Kelly. She's a girl that I have been seeing for a little bit now. That's what the sky looked like as we drove over the bridge into Indiana on the Tollway. It was a perfect cloudy cold day, and until the weather turned nice again this week, it looked like the perfect introduction to fall. The leaves were had begun to change colours, and the skies turned a gunmetal grey for most of the 7 hour ride. We had good music, and it was a good time.

Here is something that we found while driving to the ceremony. Well, we were on our way to the Taco Bell to get something to eat, but we were on our way there from the hotel. This is a green plastic kid. They use them to warn people that kids are around. My little brother had thought that this was a TMNT when we saw one in Chicago. This is the second one I have found in the world besides the one in the window, and the closest that I have gotten to one. You can't really tell, but they have a sticker that says slow that has come off of this one. It would be there if it wasn't so rainy, i figure. They also have a little hole in the hand, and the one I saw in Illinois (Markham's Library Bus uses them around the outside) had a long orange flag sticking out of it. Hosana.

There were two of them, and I tried to make stack them so they looked like they were having sex with each other, but they wouldn't really work. We did see some good plastic deer that I wanted to do it to, but we never drove past them again. Anyway, it was raining and I was in my suit and Kelly was waiting in the car while I was jerking around in the parking lot, so I finally had to go. I'll see more sometime, I'm sure.

There's the bride and groom. The wedding was fun. Then we had two hours before the reception, so we went back to the hotel for an hour and had a few drinks, and it was off to the party. At the party we had a really good time, despite the musical selections (Kenny G played through two and a half times before we finished eating.) We ate well, and drank well, and talked and danced with Kelly's family, who were all super nice to me. The only bad things were the DJ, who was awful, and finding out that Kelly was part Tang. Tang by blood. That's a story for another time. I met almost everyone and they seemed to think I was all right. We went to the hotel after the party and hung with her Aunts and Uncles and Sister and Mother before we drove back to our hotel about half an hour away and passed out.

After that was a long drive home. More good music, a few stinky rest stop bathrooms, and another 7 hour ride. We took the long way through Ohio, and stopped off at an old farm house for a minute just because my impulse control is not that good. Kelly didn't seem to mind, though, so that was good. I was driving home. The hotel we were staying at was only thirty miles from Shawshank prison, at least the one that they used in the movie, it was used in Air Force One, too. I wanted to go out there, and thought for a minute that we might be headed there, but it was just the SatNav telling us a weird country roads way to go. Hosana.

And then we were back. Praise Hosana. Blessed Rang.

My First Blog Post.

And it is. Well, there was that crap back in the Myspace days where I wrote a couple of things a couple of times. And here is one of Jim's latest discoveries. Blogging. About...whatever. The truth is I don't have anything better to do.

Part of me wonders if this is a google scheme to let computers learn how we think. It probably is. I shouldn't participate. 

Here are some things about me.

I Praise Hosana and Rang Dipkin. Google it if you don't already know the powers of the star charts. But you must know about that by now.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Especially the Foot Clan and other bad Mutants. 

Nintendo64 video games, and some Super Nintendo. I don't really get into new games. But I did get a Gamecube, and Wii Bowling is one of my favorite things ever.

Wii Bowling. I still haven't gotten a perfect score, but i work on it a little every day. My current high score is a 286! Wish me luck.

Those are some things I like.

I need to get a job. I can do almost anything, so if you have something to do for me, let me know. I am willing to try anything for cash, I need to pay the rent.

I have nothing to do today, so I might go down to the protests here in Chicago that I read about on the internets. I hope that I don't get arrested, I couldn't afford that.I'll take a few photos and put them on my blog. 

Hosana. That was easier than I thought it would be.

That's it for now. Hope you like it.
Rang