Entries Tagged as 'kevin'

CHIRP Presents The First Time: First Date

November 23rd, 2011 · No Comments


Jocelyn of CHIRP (and formerly of Chicagoist)


Jason Crock of CHIRP


Jackie Schimmel of Not Ready for Naptime Players


Tony Breed of Finn & Charlie are Hitched


Kyra Kyles of Kyles Files


Georg Coleman of Worst Cook in America


Megan Stielstra of 2nd Story and Everyone Remain Calm


Kevin Robinson of Chicagoist


Kevin Robinson


Jocelyn

Last Wednesday, Jess and I went to an event at Beat Kitchen called The First Time: First Date. It was part of a reading series with a “First Time” theme. There previously was First High, First Car and First Job. It was $10 and all the proceeds benefitted the Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP).

I always had friends reading and attending these events, but I hadn’t ever been able to go to go in the past. This time I knew Kevin, who read, and Jocelyn, who coordinated the event for CHIRP. I also saw Chuck there. All of these people I know from my Chicagoist days.

The event was really fun. Each person wrote an essay based on the theme “The First Time: First Date” and could interpret it however they wanted. Each reading was so thoughtful and funny. At then end of each essay a live band played a song the reader chose to accompany their piece. And so it went reading, song, reading, song, etc. Loved the format. The songs were so great. Many times hilarious, what each reader chose to go with their reading. The band was called The First Time and consisted of Steve Frisbie, Liam Davis, and Gerald Dowd. I thought these guys were familiar then I realized that Jocelyn interviewed them for Chicagoist way back in 2005 (Part 1, Part 2)!

The next event is scheduled for Wedsnesday, January 25 an I’m really going to try to go again because I had so much fun. Also, for all my years I lived in Roscoe Village, I never once went to Beat Kitchen. I don’t know how that could be. It’s only a block or two from where Jen & Chad live. In fact, I was hanging out with Jen and Limey and Quinn there before heading over to the event.

** Note: I didn’t get any photos of the band performing because my camera battery was about to die any second and I was trying to save it to take photos of Kevin, the last reader! And at least one photo of every other reader. I put my backup battery in and guess what? Dead. The band are the guys sitting in the background of each photo. I felt kind of bad for them because everyone was staring at them the whole time whether they were performing or not. Ha! Anyway, I didn’t think the photos came out half bad, given that I was just quick snapping one off then turning my camera off. And also because we were at a weird angle, front row seating.

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Limey’s Going Away Pub Crawl

November 8th, 2011 · No Comments


Bernie, Vickie, Limey :: Rockwood Place

After 18 years in America, Limey Dave is leaving. His work Visa has expired and without a sponsor he has to go. We have done a few things over the past few weeks as part of Limey’s going away period – cooking class, dinner and football – but this past weekend was the big blowout.


Limey & Kevin :: Bar Celona


Limey & Trent :: Bar Celona


Loden & Limey :: Bar Celona

Limes will still be here for a few more weeks and then he’s off to explore the world. I think he’s still unsure of where he’ll end up. I heard Australia and Asia are in the running, as well as England, of course. All nice places to visit, I hear, so I can’t wait to see where he lands.


Chad & Limey :: John Barleycorn


Limey & Rachelle :: John Barleycorn


Wrigley Field

Limey has lived in Wrigleyville the whole time he’s lived in Chicago, so for his going away party he coordinated a pub crawl around the neighborhood. As well, he’s always loved the Cubs so he chose to make the pub crawl baseball themed. Game time began at 1:20 p.m. with a celebratory shot and then we went to 9 bars around Wrigley Field, one bar for each “inning.”


Ted, Trent, Kevin, Chad, Danny :: Cubby Bear


Natalie, Limey, Annie :: Cubby Bear


Paulie & Limey :: Sports Corner

Dallas and I actually missed the first inning at Mullens, but made it for inning two at Rockwood Place. From there we went to Bar Celona from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. Bar Celona opened the bar just for Limey, their most loyal customer, so we spent two hours here instead of one. From 5 – 6 p.m. we were at John Barleycorn, from 6 – 7 p.m. we were at Cubby Bear and from 7 – 8 p.m. we were at Sports Corner.


Ted, Dallas, Jen, Loden, Danny :: Yak-Zie’s


Ted, Dallas, Jen, Loden, Danny, Chen-Je :: Yak-Zie’s


Here’s a secret: Limey’s shot only had Monster energy drink in it! :: Yak-Zie’s


Somewhere between Yak-Zie’s and Guthrie’s we saw this snowmobile and Sara and Jess had to get on it.

We were supposed to go to Murphy’s Bleachers next, but it was too packed to get in. Limey’s entourage was about 50 people strong and there was just no way we could fit in there. So, we were going to go to an alternate, Bernie’s Tavern, but we ended up going right to the next inning at Yak-Zie’s. The final inning, beginning at 10 p.m., was at Guthrie’s, of course, and we stayed there til close.


Eric & Kevin :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Sara, Jess, Rachelle :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Limey, Maria, Jill :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Jill, Danny, Jamie, Fitz, Paulie, Kevin, Jen, Chad’s Hands, Dallas :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Dan, Limey, Maria, Jill, Danny :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Limey & Maria :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Chad, Ted, Danny :: Guthrie’s Tavern


Time to go!!!

It was a fun day and great to see all of Limey’s friends come together. He is a great guy, which is reflected in how many people made a point to be there. We were taking over whole entire bars and making them open for business when usually they’re closed. It was such a fun day. Bittersweet. I’ll miss The Limes, but I know this will not be the last we’ve seen of him. Maybe he’ll even move back one day, who knows. Hopefully we can get to see him a time or two more before his actual move date.

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Goodbye Cory & Chris

October 10th, 2011 · No Comments


The truck was just a little bit gigantic!


Cory, Chris & Aunty Laura strategizing.


Doug played a lot of box Tetris inside the truck. Danny did a lot of heavy lifting.


Brad, Danny, Doug, Chris, Uncle BB, Kevin, Aunty Gail, Eddy, Bonnie


Tommy and Kenji had a ball running up and down the ramp. Look at mean Uncle Danny, though. He made them stop.


Meanwhile their brother Eddy chilled out with their grandma in the middle of the chaos.


Steve, Kevin, Doug, Chris, Danny, Uncle BB, Jeremy


Full truck. Time to make some tough decisions about what goes, what stays! Doug, Kevin, Chris, Steve


Eddy was born in January, Tyler in August. So much bigger than even a month ago!


Cory & Me. Some family members wouldn’t talk to me with that shirt on, but the game was that night!

On Sunday Cory and Chris had a Load The Truck/Moving party. Chris got a job in Vail, CO and actually left more than a month ago to work there. In the meantime, Cory packed up all their things. Chris came back this weekend to get her and all their stuff. They rented a truck and are driving out to Vail with their dog, Zoe.

I arrived to the party about an hour late and thought I would have missed a big chunk of the loading, but the truck wasn’t even there yet! And there were only about 8 people and 3 of them were pregnant (Caroline, Toni, Chris’s sister)! There was so much stuff, I thought we would be there all night. Slowly people showed up, all hoping they’d missed the bulk, but they did not! Aunty Laura said that is how the family works, but reminded me that Cory is a part of the family too and she knows that about everyone! haha. It turned out that everyone did their fair share of heavy lifting… well, except the pregnant girls, babies, and older aunties.

Dallas was on a flight to South Carolina for work, so I was there on my own and was willing to do whatever I needed to. Cory helped us when we moved to Roscoe Village and she and Chris have helped us with other things on numerous occasions, so we owed them that. Luckily it went pretty fast once we got going. I don’t think everything made it into the truck, though. I was sort of hoping the bike roof rack wouldn’t make it or this cool trunk they have wouldn’t and I’d be forced to take it for…. safe keeping.. but alas, those things fit in. They’ll be towing a car on the back of the truck, so hopefully they can fit some things in there too.

After the moving was done, we all had dinner. Aunty Laura made a whole spread of her famous flank steak, chili, salad, mac n cheese, cone sushi, char sui, and all sorts of things. Naoko made an Italian cream cake and like always, it was delicious!

Good luck, Chris and Cory! You guys will be missed!

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Retro on Roscoe

August 9th, 2011 · No Comments

After the Cubs game we headed over to Jen and Chad’s for their annual Retro on Roscoe party. After hanging out at the house for a bit, we went to the festival to meet up with more friends and to get something to eat. I always like Retro on Roscoe, but this year the food seemed different. Dallas has a favorite Polish stand that he looks forward to every year and it was no where to be seen. Maybe because of this? I tried to be a bit healthier and got a chicken kebab with a salad and nothing had any sauce on it. It was all very dry, including the pita it was served with. Oh well.

Last year this space in the garage was filled with about 10 strollers and there were many kids running around the party. I thought it was a sign of the times, and I think it still is, but for some reason this year? No strollers. And only a handful of kids.

Like most years there was a ton of beer pong being played. I did not play this year but my brother did. Before I knew it, it was 11 p.m. Not too late, but we had met up for the game at 11:15 a.m., so it was a long, long day. Caroline, who announced that day that she will be our DD for 9 long months, gave us a ride home.

Previous visits to Retro on Roscoe:
- 2010
- 2008
- 2007
- 2004

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Built in Chicago Launch Party

June 24th, 2011 · No Comments

Built in Chicago is a site that was created about 8 months ago and is a resource for digital professionals working and building great web and mobile businesses in Chicago. Last night I attended their launch party with Jess and Alden. Tribeca Flashpoint sponsored the event and it was held in their space at the Merchandise Mart. There was a $10 admission fee, but once you were in, it was all free drinks and snacks.

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The beer sponsor was Finch’s Beer Co. Ok. But made in Chicago? How have I never heard of them? I asked the servers and they said that Finch’s has only been in production for about 8 weeks and that it is based out of the Albany Park neighborhood. Interesting. I had two Golden Wing blond ales and Jess and Alden both had the Cut Throat pale ale. We all liked the beer and when I tweeted about it, Chuck declared that the blonde will be the beer of this summer.

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Ok. So, enough about the beer. The Built in Chicago event was basically a mixer. It reminded me of Tech Cocktail, but with more suits and more gray hair. A grown up Tech Cocktail? I mean, even Ron May showed up at the end (blerg!). I talked to people I knew from various stages of my “past lives” – Chicagoist, FeedBurner, Google – and also from past Tech Cocktail events. It was nice to see people I hadn’t seen for quite a while (Kevin – from Google & now heading up the Chicago Entrepreneurial Center , Sean – from Chicagoist, now at Have My Shift, Brad – from my Chicagoist days, now at Appolicious, and Blagica from all over? :) ) Also nice meet some new people, too.

I like how Built in Chicago seems like more of an ongoing thing. Like, sure, they’ll have these face-to-face networking events occasionally, but you don’t just go away after that and see people at the next event. Built in Chicago is also a whole social networking site for like-minded interactive people in Chicago. I think it should be a bit easier to keep in the loop and keep in contact with people. Looking forward to seeing how this all evolves.

PS. At the end of the night Alden and I met up with Dallas at the Boiler Room and guess what kind of beer I noticed they had on tap? Finch’s! So I had another Golden Wing. Maybe this will be the beer of the summer.

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