theo|digital

Made it to Wrigley twice before heading out here to Colorado. Here’s some pics from 5 May with seminary friends Andrew, Kelsey, and Angie.

I like how I got Sean Marshall’s entire windup.

Wrigley Giants @ Cubs May 2009

Out here in Colorado I’m so isolated from the Cubs! Haven’t seen one game since arriving. Just watching the numbers get worse…

Every year, Chicago celebrates St. Patrick’s Day in style.  This year I finally made it down to the river with friends to see the famous plumbers union dye the river green .  Check out my photos:

St. Patrick’s Day Chicago River

If you live with me on the north side of Chicago, then we’ve got a special election coming up fast: 3 March 2009. We’ve gotta replace Rahm Emmanuael, who moved on to be President Obama’s chief of staff.

There’s a slew of candidates, and I’m just starting to sort them out. Common wisdom would say that the winner of the Democractic primary will win the election itself, but there are a number of active Republican and Green Party candidates having their own contest, so we’ll see.

The Chicago Tribune Editorial board has a list of the candidates, their endorsement, and some video of interviews with each.

On Feb 6, Forbes Magazine updated its list of “America’s 10 Most Miserable Cities“—and Chicago shows up as number three, right behind Memphis!

I’ve been to Memphis. It’s pretty bad. Aside from a sweet BBQ spot or two and the weirdo Illuminati-like pyramid marking your arrival downtown, there’s not much going for it. Chicago can’t even be in the same league.

Fortunately, Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times has taken offense for the city and sacrificed himself to answer the charges with an appropriate blend of Mid-Western warmth and urban disdain:

Most of these supposedly misery-making aspects are simply evidence of how many people want to live in Chicago — traffic is a breeze in Springfield, but who wants to be there? Taxes are low in Somalia, along with the life expectancy. Read Neil’s column.

Oh man. Well, this was cool. We waited in line for 2+ hours, got mostly bad pictures (these are the best of a bunch, and I still had to include a lot that weren’t good, but still helped tell the story), and at 5’6″, the only parts of the rally I saw were on Andrew Gates‘ shoulders.

Still cool.

We’re about as far as you can get from Hurricane Ike right now.  But we’re still gettin’ hammered with rain that’s already been around for 24 hours and supposed to last for another 2 days.  I woke up twice last night to the huge roar of drops forced like a million grains of sand on the window.
The radar is a snapshot at 0930 CST.
Our current radar.

On Labor Day weekend, I took a ride on my Like-New bike (a gift from my Dad earlier this year) from the North Park campus out to the Lake and Foster Beach. I had been a little intimidated about hopping on a bike in the city: lots of people do it, but the traffic can be sorta intense. But a route I found avoids almost all busy streets… most of the trip was brick houses and shade trees. Sweet.

Check out my route, both there and back:

View Larger Map

I woke up “in the middle of the night” convinced someone was shaking my bed. Since I’m in a loft bed, it was if there was a lower bunk, and someone was bouncing around down there. You know… or we just had the Midwest’s largest earthquake since 1968. (USGS info). Of course, I concluded I was crazy and went back to sleep.

Just because.

(these guys were hanging out in Daley Plaza a couple weeks ago. They’re sitting on the footing of the Picasso – the name of which I don’t know because Chicagoans just call it, you know, the Picasso).

Part of what I want to track here (for my own emotional health) is what this feels like to leave so many years of campus ministry position and jump into a seminary. Perhaps a lot of my transitional stresses would be universal to the new friends I’m making here – those of us who are all starting this year and coming from elsewhere. But I’m sure there’s plenty of surprises that are unique to each of us.

There are so many simultaneous shifts happening that I I can hardly categorize them: Theological. Relational. Grocery-store related.

I’m not used to:
…sleeping in a single bed (although it really hasn’t been bad).

…saying “thanks be to God” after scripture readings (seminary chapel).

…the walk to class taking only four minutes (and I thought I was “on campus” in Champaign!)

…regularly hearing about “the call process” as referencing either a) how someone decided to enroll in a degree program or b) the hiring process for being a pastor at a church.

…pastors being hired.

…being assigned the reading instead of doing it myself.

…not having a coffee shop home (still working on it. Only starbucks is a close-by walk).

…being able to play with my roommate’s iPhone (my old roommates just talked about getting them).

…not having a chinese restaurant home (see “coffee shop”).

…formal academic theological Journals (surprise! The “J” section is the largest).

…hearing Swedish.

…feeling like I know less than everyone else (two people I’ve been hanging around have undergraduate degrees in Bible. I haven’t even had the intro courses).

…nobody stopping me on campus asking if we can get together and talk.

…hearing “Covenant College” and it referring to somewhere in Canada, not Tennessee (Covenant Evangelical Church, not Presbyterian Church in America)

…people not being able to understand me when I talk fast and mumble (I miss the Champaign friends who could interpret so easily).

…milk costing a $3.75 a gallon

…sermons instead of stories.

…paper handouts instead of digital (it’s sorta unreal. digital files exist around here but, let’s just say… Gmail Paper would probably get an enthusiastic reception here).

..the NRSV.

that’s good for a start…

ps – 2nd shot is a photo of my flat. I’m on the 3rd floor.