The morning after the Cubs won the World Series, Thursday November 3rd, 2016, I decided to go on a quick victory lap of Wrigley Field. I ran a little bit over a mile to get there and then explored around the stadium. The first thing I did was take a photo in front of the famous marquee that now said World Series Champions for the first time ever... I think. I don't think it was around in 1908, but can't be entirely sure. There were a few groups of people also taking photos in front of it. The mood around the entire stadium was relief, happiness, and excitement. There were fans of all ages, from little kids who chanted Go Cubs Go, to older folks who have been through many years of struggle. As I made my way around Wrigley I noticed that all the bricks were covered in chalk writing. This was almost all along the backside of the stadium on Waveland and Sheffield, but even extended on to some of the metal gates. People were writing messages on the wall, their names, names of relatives, and even some drew pictures. I was looking all along the ground for a piece of chalk so I could add some names. I scavenged the area, but didn't see anything. I kept walking and eventually stumbled upon a small piece of yellow chalk that allowed me to add some names to the wall. I added "Maluta" "Kutz" "Hyma" and finally "Gpa Kutz" in honor of my grandpa who was the biggest Cubs fan I knew and was even at the Bartman game back in 2003 (blog about him here). It was pretty cool to have all of our family names on the wall as a part of the historic 2016 season for the Cubs.
After making my way all the way around the stadium and back to the front, I took a few more pictures in front of the Marquee and then continued my victory lap run. I ran around Wrigley and continued for a total of 4 miles before heading to work for the day. On my way to work I finished reading the book "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed. Great piece of work, I highly suggest reading this true life story of a PCT hiker. At work I got Patelli's, the place that is kinda like Portillo's, for lunch again. This time trying out their chicken tenders which were a little bit too much bread and not enough chicken in my opinion. I drove Beth and Grace home with me from work, since the next day was the World Series Champions parade back in Chicago! That night I was up late until 1:30am editing.
The next morning we woke up at 7:45 to get to Cubs Victory Parade and hopefully find a good spot. The date was Friday November 4th. We rode the bus with Rachel to work since she still had to work on that day, and ended up finding a spot right outside of her building. We were on Michigan Ave, right at the start of the second half of the parade. The first half would be taking place right outside of Wrigley. There were a good amount of people on one side of the street, but we were still in the second row. We then realized there were barriers in the middle of Michigan, but traffic was still going. We made our way over to the other side, then when the signal was given, we ran to the barriers and had a front row seat! Perfect! There only ended up being about 5 rows of people behind us and then another 30 feet of empty space. At this time we thought maybe there weren't that many people at the Cubs parade, the Blackhawks one seemed way more packed. After waiting about 3 hours, the line of cars and busses finally made its way down Michigan. The parade was pretty solid, I got a good look at Joe Madden and I as I shouted to Dempster, he gave me the nod. Not sure why he was on the bus since he isn't on the Cubs anymore, but well deserved I'd say! The parade lasted a few minutes and then when it ended, we crossed back over to the street to grab some lunch with Rachel. Grace went her separate way with her parents who also were in town to visit, quite the timing! We grabbed some Potbelly with Rachel which hit the spot since we hadn't eaten all day. We were also able to warm up. I made the mistake of only wearing a t-shirt, forgetting we would be in the shade of the buildings for most of the time. In fact the sun ended up hitting us before the parade did while we were waiting. Check out some of the pictures and the vlog. The Cubs parade video can be seen below.
After the parade and lunch, Rach went back to work and then Beth and I headed downtown towards Grant Park. The rally was over at this time, but we soon realized there were A TON of people who went, we just happened to be in a good spot. The streets were littered with trash, empty cases of beer, empty beer cans, there were people everywhere. We were going against the traffic leaving Grant Park which was a struggle for a bit, but then not too bad. We stopped at Tribune Tower where beth bought some newspaper memorabilia, I bought a couple of "real hip hop" cds off of a couple of nice fellas on the street selling their music. We finally got down to millenium park which was mostly closed, and eventually made it to the Art Institutue to see the lions which wore Cubs hats for the first time ever.
Beth and I took the L home. Once we were home I took a quick nap, then got a text from Rachel saying she got Bulls Box Seats for the game tonight, would I want to go? Oh heck yea! Unfortunately we had to leave Beth to do her own thing since we only had 2 tickets, but I had never been to a Bulls game before so how could I possibly turn them down!? Rach's work is pretty sweet, they also got me to my first Chicago Bears game ever earlier this year, also box seats, check the link. Then I found out that they were playing the New York Knicks. The first time DRose and Noah would return to the United Center. Rachel got home after work and then we drove over to the game. I was dressed in my tall XL Rodman Jersey I had gotten from some black market China store for like $20 over 5 years ago. Finally getting to put it to good use. It was so long, literally went down to my knees that I went with the tucked in look. It says hey I am classy, but also am a fan of The Worm, so I am here to party. Oh we also had executive parking passes. As we pulled into the lot, we looked up and BOOM, there was the United Center. We were literally 50 feet from the building. Amazing.
We looked on our ticket and noticed that we were to enter through Gate 2 1/2. This seems like some Harry Potter stuff, and some high class shiet. We ended up having to wait 20 minutes line to get in, so we missed the intros for Rose and Noah, but that's okay. We had no idea where our seats were, so once in the building we got in the elevator like everyone else. We handed our ticket to the elevator guy and he pressed the floor 2 button. Super embarrassing since we were the first ones on and had to make everyone get off as the elevator went up one flight of stairs. We all had a laugh about it as we squeezed past and got off though. First timers coming through! Side note: It annoys me when people take an elevator to go up one flight of stairs. The elevators in our building are super slow, so sometimes I walk up the 6 flights of stairs faster than the elevator. It's good exercise too!
Once on the second floor, we found our suite, but there was no sign on it, and there were only a handful of people in it, none that Rachel knew. We decided to go in anyway. Food, snacks, and beers filled the suite. Suite life is pretty amazing. We stacked our plates with fajitas, chicken tenders, and some little sandwiches. Not to mention the fruit and beers. We drank Stella's and Heinekins this evening. We snagged a couple of seats just outside of the box and watched the game. Our first basketball game was going pretty swell. It was a fun atmosphere and the game was actually flying by. At half time, we met up with my friend Gio, who happened to also be in a box, quite the coincidence. Just after half time the dessert cart stopped by and we picked up a few snacks to go along with the beers and food. Got to love box life. After the game ended we decided to talk to the other 5 people in our box, all of who were super dark. They ended up being straight out of Rwanda, Like the country in Africa. They explained how their parents were murdered in the Rwandan genocide and they were only one or two years old at the time. Well that's crazy. We ended up talking to them (4 guys and 1 girl) for an hour. The game ended at 9:15, but we were there until 10:15 chatting. As we left, we gave them our number and told them to meet up with us at a bar we were going to after. To spoil the story, they never showed up, we were disappointed. Oh, the Bulls lost, but no one really cares because the game was super fun and we ate and drank for free. Also smuggled out a few roadies. Party time.
After the game, we drove a short while over to this bar called Lone Wolf where we met up with Rach's bro Rob and friend Lou to close out the night. Someone clipped a W balloon to my back jeans pocket. I'll take it! Go Cubs! After a drink or two we called it a night and headed back to our place to find Beth asleep on the couch.
The next morning I had to wake up early as always lately and drive to work. Beth came with me this time since I had to drive her home from the festivities the day before. We listened to that "real hip hop" CD I bought the day before. Meh, it was okay, but nothing too great. Keep on rapping fellas! When I got back to the city on Saturday November 5th, I decided to go on a run. I told myself I would run 10 miles, so I did. I ran it in just over an hour at a 7 minute 14 second pace. Wow. That is definitely the fastest I have ever ran 10 miles. Oh also it was 70 degrees out. I was wearing shorts and a tee shirt and it is November! Global warming was in full effect.
When I got home from my run I took a nap. Not only had a run 10 miles, but I didn't get too much sleep the night before since we were out until after midnight. Rachel made us a tasty pasta bake for dinner that night.
That night we watched Saturday Night Live where the Cubs made an appearance. Pretty funny. Still can't believe they won the world series.
We got an extra hour of sleep that night, leading us to Sunday November 6th. Thanks Daylight Savings. The next day was a little bit lazy for me. As I watched Alien and Aliens. Two classics from my childhood that bring back great memories like reenacting the movie over and over with John, my brother, and his brother. These two are going to be our Movie(s) of the Week:
I did a quick 3 mile run to meet up with Rachel in Uptown. We walked around the area and ended up doing our first apartment/house showing randomly. Pretty nice place, but dayummm living in the city is pricey! I guess we already knew this, but just confirming. Afterwards we got dinner at a place nearby which was much needed since neither of us had eaten that day. We were about to take a bus home when Beth sent me a snap of Wrigley field. I had no idea she was in the city. Turns out she was with my parents, and was literally a block down the street.
My Mom, Dad and Beth picked us up. Too crazy they were right where we were. We drove to see the outside of Beth's new place she will be moving next week! Blog coming soon! Afterwards we headed back to our place and found a parking spot right out front. How perfect! My parents made it up to our place for 2nd time ever. And first time since moving us in day one over 2 years ago. They hung out for an hour or so it was good catching up before they headed home.
That night I finished off the Alien trilogy by watching Aliens 3. Obviously the worst of all 3. #2 is the best, #1 is a solid second and #3 is just bizarre. I also finished editing a video for North Central College's Lacrosse team that evening. Check it out right down below in our Video of the Week:
The next day was Monday November 7th. Happy Birthday Patches. After work, I had a frozen pizza for dinner at my parents, ate too much Halloween candy they had laying around and then headed over to my Aunt Ruth's to mount a TV for her. Second time mounting a TV went way smoother and faster than the first time. Also there were actually studs in the wall this time. Although the TV I first mounted still hangs strong!
I drove back to my parents, did some laundry and then caught some zZz's
Election Day is here. The next morning of Tuesday November 8th was Election Day. Officially the first election I will ever vote in. I woke up at 7:30am and Beth and I headed to vote around 9. I went to the local voting booth, waiting in line for 0 minutes and cast my first vote for President of the United States. Felt good to be a first time voter!
That night after work when I was back at home with Rachel we watched the terror of the outcome of the election roll in. Not really what we expected and definitely not what we wanted. Just sad that so many Americans would vote in an extreme racist, sexist, and childish person into office. I stayed up until after midnight watching the coverage, but went to bed knowing the US had just done something unprecedented and unexpected.
The next morning on Wednesday November 9th, we found out that Trump had officially won the election over Hillary Clinton and we were deeply saddened. What has the USA come to!? I went to work that day and ended up eating 4 Wendy's sandwiches for lunch out of depression and had a few beverages when I arrived home that evening. Oh America. What have you done. The coming weeks, let alone the coming 4 years should be very interesting.
My Mom also won me these two sweet Bears hats at some point during this week.
Guess we will have to start building that wall now.
See ya on the other side of it.
Josh