Chicago 2016

For the last couple of years the Mayor (around these parts that title refers to Mayor Daly even if you don’t live in Chicago proper) has launched his campaign to bring the Summer Olympics to Chicago. I’ve followed some of the media coverage for it and have even popped over to the official website http://www.chicago2016.org/ to see what they have to present.

Now, I am probably one of the biggest proponents of telling people of how great a city Chicago is and why everyone should come for a visit, but I wouldn’t even drive the 42 miles from my house based on the information that is provided on the videos. Here’s the most recent one from YouTube:



Where’s the mention of the culture of the city? Why does it only mention the diversity in passing? What about the neighborhoods?

Some of the cities that Chicago is competing against (Madrid and Rio de Janeiro) both present themselves as fun cosmopolitan cities. Chicago branded itself as having huge parks?! I love the parks and I think the lakefront is a fantastic feature of the city, but why make that the way to brand ourselves? We are an international city and we want to host an international event so why don’t we recognize the fact that we have much more to offer than just the lakefront and its amenities. That was fine for the USOC, but we need to let the rest of the world know what Chicago is about: the diversity of its people, the neighborhoods, the culture of the museums, the theater, the festivals, and yes even the parks.

It's Been a While

So I have a really good excuse. I was resently cut open and then screwed back together. For the second time. Last time I didn't record any of the experience so this time I made sure to take a couple of pitures of my drug-induced haze. Although I must admit that I'm doing much better this go around than I did last time. I'm even posting a lovely picture for everyone to see the awsomeness of the bruising after two weeks. And I thought that the ACL was on the inside of my knee.

Right now all I have to concentrate on is the whole walking thing (really, who would have thought that bending and straightening your leg could lead to so much trouble) and of course the up coming special elections in my congressional district.

I've been under the excellent care of my parents since the surgery and they being the excellent members of their political party have been recieving phone calls from a canidate who is running to replace the former Speaker of the House of Represetatives. None of us like him as he is shall we say...a biggot. Unfortunately I'm afraid that he will win the nomination of his party and that means that he will most likely go on to win the special election to be held shortly thereafter.

I'll post some more pictures in the next couple of days of me at physical therapy. It should be interesting. Overall I'm healing really well.