Day 354: Jellies

In Shedd’s new special exhibit, Jellies, discover the intriguing ways these pulsing, translucent animals survive—and thrive—in the world’s oceans. Learn how a jelly can devour enough food to double its weight each day, or how sea nettles hunt by trailing their long stinging tentacles to paralyze prey upon contact. And they do it all without blood, bones, or brains. On Earth for millions of years, but at Shedd for only a limited time! Jellies runs through May 28, 2012.

This is the NORTHEAST PACIFIC SEA NETTLE
Chrysaora fuscescens

Size: Up to 30 inches in diameter with mouth arms trailing up to 16 feet.
Habitat: Coastal waters of the northeast Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea.
Fun Fact: Sea nettles get their common name from the well-known plant that stings.

Posted in Animals, Chicago, Life, Museums | Tagged | Leave a comment

Day 353: Christmas Story

What would Christmas be without a Christmas Story?? TBS pays tribute with the 15th anniversary of 24 hours of a Christmas Story and now Chicago will pay tribute with A Christmas Story, The Musical! Going on now through December 30th at the Chicago Theater.

This is the window promoting the Musical which can be seen in the window of the Tribune Tower.

Posted in Amusement, Chicago, Holiday, Life | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Day 352: Christmas Wrigley

During the holidays Chicago buildings all glow in red and green.  The Wrigley building is no exception to this.

Posted in Architecture, Chicago, HDR, Holiday, Life, Skyline | Leave a comment

Day 351: Water Tower

The Water Tower downtown Chicago decorated for Christmas.

Posted in Architecture, Chicago, Historic Landmarks, Holiday | Leave a comment

Day 350: Festive Lights

The festive lights along Michigan Ave.

20111217-233109.jpg

Posted in Chicago, Holiday, Life | Leave a comment

Day 349: Rise & Shine

Sometimes some of my favorite photos come as a direct result of a terrible stroke of bad luck. One night I was out with my girlfriend and some friends by the Wisconsin border when my girlfriends car broke down. We didn’t end up getting back down to our place until about 4am. By then I had been up for about 24 hours, so I decided to head out and see what kind of shots I could get. I was lucky enough to catch a great shot of the sun rise- and this photo doesn’t do that sunrise justice. As you can see I wasn’t the only one up to catch the spectacular view. There was an older couple out together taking a stroll and taking some photos as well. I was surprised to see how much activity was going on that early- fishermen out fishing, people jogging and riding their bikes. Even in spite of the sleep deprivation, long hours of waiting for the tow truck and the excruciatingly long drive home, being awake to see that sunrise and take that photo made it all worth it.

20111216-201217.jpg

Posted in Chicago, Life, Nature, Weather | 1 Comment

Day 348: Mustache

One of the things that I love about living in the city is that there is never a dull moment.  This was taken at the Urban Assault Ride during a “Greatest Mustache Contest”.  Can’t argue as to why this guy won.

Posted in Amusement, Chicago, Life | Leave a comment

Day 347: Seagull

A seagull waits for a tourist to drop some food at Navy Pier.

Posted in Animals, Chicago, Nature | Leave a comment

Day 346: Beautiful

What a beautiful sunset. The rich colors fill the sky as the sun sets behind the Aragon.

Posted in Chicago, Nature, Skyline | Leave a comment

Day 345: Go-Go

I’ve been a dog lover since I was a kid.  I love dogs, they are fun. Over the last 30 years of my life I (and my family) have been lucky enough to own several amazing, loyal, loving, spoiled dogs.  They alway have a way of making me revert back to my childhood when I used to chase them around the living room, or wrestle them to the ground in the back yard or cuddle up to them when I was sick.  I just plain and simple love owning a dog.  The only part that I truely despise is having to say goodbye.   Sadly, this month I had to say goodbye to one of my friends for the past many years.

I wanted to post this in memory of Prince (a name he was given before he was adopted by my grandfather and then ultimately by my parents).  Although he his name was Prince, he had many nicknames within the family.  Too many to actually list out and explain.  But his most recent, given to him by my 19 month old niece was “Go-Go”.  Even with her very limited vocabulary, she used to call him Go-Go all the time but we didn’t know why.  It wasn’t until we realized that she had pick up on my parents constant encouragement to “go-go-go” outside before he made a mess on the carpet that we realized where he got his new name.

Kind of a dumb story, I know, but it’s going to be one of the last memories I have of that little guy.  Watching my little niece, a fellow dog lover, shouting out for her friend “Go-Go” and watching her face light up and he lumbers into the room huffing and puffing like the old-timer he was.

You were a great dog Prince.  You’re going to missed but you finally get to go be with Grandpa again. Tell him I said hi.

Posted in Chicago, Life | Leave a comment