Other new summery/fall things

1. I got a bike! It's a Gary Fisher hybrid (between road and mountain bike) that goes easy over curbs and is easy on the eyes in a slick black and silver combination. I need to find a better helmet (the one I've got, free, makes me look silly) and a better lock (a little coil ain't good enough for HP).
2. I got (now president-elect) Barack Obama gear that I proudly wore during the Grant Park rally and which I proudly drink out of everyday.
3. I spent many hours reading about political news surrounding the conventions and all the election hoopla. A memorable moment from the Republican convention: the moderator (or whatever you call the speaker) asks if there are any other nominations besides John McCain, one man screams "Ron Paul!" and is quickly ignored as the moderator declares "with no other nominations..." Kinda  sad that a party so hellbent on protecting our freedoms should blithely ignore one of the fundamental ones. The man was clearly audible and yet not heard. How sad.
4. My laptop died and has since been replaced by a Lenovo SL400 Thinkpad. My old T40 may still be saved since the motherboard is apparently fried. After over five years of nearly unfailing service (only had to replace the fan and DVD drive once each), I will miss the machine that has traveled far with me and taken me places too numerous to count. Why so sentimental about a machine? Why do people weep when their cars finally die out on them?
5. Saket got me a really sweet new Nano!! It's a beautiful blue color and best of all, it comes with an inscription that only my brother would think of: "for Sapana, my favorite bear of all." ::tear::
6. B&J went on a semi-cross-country 10-day (and well-earned) vacation during which I successfully managed to keep all their plants (and myself) alive and not completely trash the apartment. Yay me! Funny too how my TV viewing increased dramatically during those days. As enthralling as the "boob tube" may be, it can never replace genuine company.
   
7. I saw WALL-E with Kevin and enjoyed the movie (though the fact that we saw the flick shortly before he had to leave for Champaign to attend his grandfather's funeral, may he rest in peace, did dampen my spirits more than a bit). Pixar continues to amaze me with the creativity and heart they put into their movies. I have seen them all except Cars which was the first to not excite my interest and, perhaps non-coincidentally, is also their worst-reviewed movie to date.
8. The Dark Knight was awesome. I only wished they had filmed some true IMAX shots of Batman swooping down over Gotham City. Alas.
9. I still can't believe I went skydiving.
10. I still can't believe my DAD went skydiving.
11. Nate came to visit! Totally awesome (something I really needed after my prelim experience), especially since the poor guy was sick most of the time, yet he was such a trooper. Hats off to anyone who can put up with my jabbering nonstop for an entire weekend. With a fever too. Oh, and we went to the temple by Obama's "mansion" for a brief yet interesting visit. The woman who let us in to another woman: "Can you show them around before service? Or maybe throw them out?" All this while we were standing there. Awkward! The temple is quite beautiful though and has an interesting history, much of which I've unfortunately forgotten. Oh well, as good an excuse as any to get past the security blockade in front of Obama's house!
    
12. Anything else? Only if I think of it.
    

Summer in the City

All right, so it's been quiet some time since I last updated this. Needless to say, I've been pretty tied up, but that's no excuse for not blogging, since blogging is what all the cool people are doing these days.

First I'll catch up on what's been going on since my family left Chicago back in June...in order of most recent to most...non-recent:

1) I completed my laboratory rotation with Dr. Ken Onel who I've discussed in an earlier post. The man is just awesome. I'll discuss my new lab mates in detail later, but just know they're a fun bunch and I look forward to working with them as long as they're in the lab.

2) I wrote and presented my prelim not just once, but twice since I wasn't exactly brilliant the first time. The second time went only a bit better, but rest assured I'm still in the program and will be just fine. It's nice to know i have such a supportive network of friends and colleagues to make sure I succeed. And it's really nice to know that I have an amazing advisor and supportive classmates who've always got my back.

3) I've discovered some new music (shocking, I know...I do listen to artists other than Sarah McLachlan). They're from different genres but some pretty neat stuff. Ken and I were talking about international music (I may have been discussing a Bollywood film) and he mentioned an artist named M.I.A. She was born in Sri Lanka but raised in the UK and has produced her albums from several different countries. I find it a little difficult to describe her music succinctly since it's definitely cross-genre material. It's rap/hip-hop based, with a dance infusion and hints of Bollywood drama and sounds. Anyway, you should check out her latest album "Kala." Another group I discovered through Pandora Radio (the "music genome project"; really a neat site that streams songs based on artists or genres you like. For example, I've created a "Sarah McLachlan" channel and so songs by Sarah and artists like her are streamed through there) is called Bond. I haven't looked much into them, but they're apparently a group of women who do classical music but in a rather funky modern way. A standout is "Shine" which has some Hindi lyrics (awesome). I like some modern classical-sounding stuff like E.S. Posthumous and Mythos, and these ladies fit in pretty well. The last new cool artist comes from the west side of Chi-town and his name is Lupe Fiasco. Saket attended a neat outdoor concert in SF to see Radiohead and got to hear this guy as well. A song of his, "Go Go Gadget Flow" made an impression on Saket by the craziness (and geekiness) of the lyrics and the energy with which Lupe and his band performed the song. So Saket sent me a YouTube link of his song and, impressed with his lyricism and sound, I downloaded his latest album off Ruckus. For someone who's not a big fan of rap, I was very impressed. Not only are the beats wicked, but most importantly the lyrics are so thoughtful and relevant it's hard not to like what you're listening to. How many rappers do you know can sing about AIDS in a way that's both tragic and beautiful (Streets On Fire) and also about child soldiers (Little Weapon)? Now this guy is definitely worth listening to.

4) I got to meet up with my aunt and cousins from India!! How cool is that? I found out just after my folks and sister left that my cousin Shweta, who's currently in her senior year at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (go Blue!). Finally, a chance to meet more family! As you may know, about 99% of our family lives in India still. The other 1% can be found in Canada (cousins of my mom and their families) and Houston (a niece of my dad's). We've only had a handful of chances to meet that 99% (and I've been lucky enough to see more of the folks in Canada than Saket or Sachi) due to the length and timing of the school year, my dad's work schedule, and the sheer expense and time committment it takes to make a family trip to India. Thankfully, now that we're no longer in traditional school binds, we can take trips more frequently. Nonetheless, our last trip as a family was nearly four years ago. But I digress.

You shouldn't need a special occasion to meet family, but we found a good one in any case. Shweta was working as an intern for Walgreens in Chicago for the summer and Archana Masi (aunt) and Shruti (Shweta's younger sister) were visiting her from India. The last time I remember talking to them was back in 2004 when Shweta was seriously considering coming to the US for college. I have to say I'm happy she decided to come, regardless of whether she'll consider settling here or moving back to India when she's got her degree in engineering/environmental studies. Since they were in Chicago (living in Evanston), and I am in Chicago, we decided to meet downtown at the Taste of Chicago. The Taste is a popular summer food festival featuring hundreds of local restaurants and eateries who give out "tastes" or small portions along with full servings of their iconic items. As you can imagine, there were lots of places serving deep dish pizza, hot dogs, and cheesecake, but a lot of ethnic food as well from Indian to Ethiopian and beyond. Despite a sky threatening rain, we enjoyed ourselves at the Taste eating tasty things (see what I did there?) and catching up on life since December 2004. I got to see them a couple more times before Masi and Shruti headed back to India when we saw The Dark Knight together at the IMAX theater at Navy Pier and when I came up to Evanston for pizza night at Kevin's place. I can't wait to see them again in India the next time we go (though who knows when that will be...)

Those are the main points of summer. Additional details in the next post.

Rest of Family Visit II: 19 Jun- 21 Jun

19 Jun: Thursday and it's time to visit more of the city. Dad had a meeting with a colleague for work so while he was at that, Sachi, Mom and I headed to the Sears Tower. Originally built by Sears Roebuck and Co. in 1973, the Sears Tower is one of the tallest buildings in the world (110 stories for 1450 feet, 1725 if you count the antennas) and home to the offices of dozens of companies (no longer Sears though, they moved to the suburbs). It offers one of the finest views of Chicago from the top although some areas, like my Hyde Park, are nothing more than a blur even on good days. It is possible to see Indiana nearly everyday and even Michigan on the clearest days. We spent some time taking lots of pictures, then headed down to meet up with Dad at lunch. We ate at a Potbelly's in the Loop and then caught a bus south to the Museum of Science and Industry in Hyde Park (maybe a dozen blocks from my university). The MSI complex was constructed as a temporary structure for the 1893 World's Fair, part of Chicago's famous "White City." Rain and the elements threatened to disintegrate the city until locals decided the buildings were worth maintaining and thus refurbished the structure into the museum it houses today. The classical Greek style of the columns and facade make the MSI a valued addition to Chicago's long history of architectural treasures.

The Museum was quite crowded since it was celebrating its 25th anniversary and thus decided not to charge an admission price. We spent a couple hours admiring the chicks, checking out some DNA exhibits, meandering through some naval and space history, and leaving rather abruptly given the fact that we were a little fatigued and Dad was getting a headache from the crowd and noise. It took quite a bit of time to catch a bus that would take us downtown but finally caught one back to the hotel. After resting and freshening up, it was time for dinner. We visited the "Star of Siam" just off State Street and it proved to be a delightful little Thai restaurant. I was especially impressed with the cushions in the middle of the room. It looked as though the diners were seated with legs crossed on level with the table (as though on the floor), but in fact they were sitting as normal; it was just that the cushions had table-shaped square holes cut through them to the floor, creating a hollow space for legs. I guess it would help to see the place, so come visit me sometime and I'll show you.

After dinner we stopped at Kevin's favorite used bookstore that happened to be right next door, and then caught a cab for Buckingham Fountain (it's more fun to see this fountain at night). A light and music show is put on so of course we stayed for that and I took many pictures. After a pleasant evening by the fountain, we caught a cab back to the hotel for some rest.

20 Jun: It's Friday and we're going skydiving! It's also Dad's birthday! What a day for adventure! We headed out early due west for Hinckley, IL, a tiny town with a big love of flying. Our destination was the Chicagoland Skydiving Center where Sachi, Dad, and I had booked a day with destiny. The weather started nice but as we waited for our class to begin and our instructors to arrive (at my insistence we had arrived ludicrously early, but to good effect as you'll see later), the sky turned gray and before we knew it rain was falling. Uh oh! Finally, our team arrived and just in time too the sky cleared. We watched a video with the other divers and were shown briefly how to properly deploy the chute and jump (Sachi got to demonstrate some moves for us). Operating the chute was optional; if we didn't our tandem instructor would do so.

In what seemed like no time, we were suiting up for our jump. All three of us elected to have a videographer/cameraman accompany our jump to record our freefall for posterity. As a result, we were quite a crowd bundling into the little airplane (3 of us, our 3 instructors, 3 videographers, 2 pilots, and 2 other divers from CSC). The ride up didn't take too long, and we chatted with our fellow divers as best we could over the roar of the engine and wind. Although I appeared calm and excited on the outside, I was secretly fighting nerves within. I trusted my instructor and the equipment, but you just never know...

All of a sudden, we were at about 14,000 fight. Since I was first to board, I was last to jump and got to watch as Sachi first and then Dad were escorted out of the plane and into thin air. Shuffling awkwardly with Eddie, my instructor, I found myself poised on the brink of the aircraft. My videographer (I only remember his first name started with a J, so I'll call him J) was already hanging off the plane, and before I could think to have second thoughts, Eddie was counting down and rock forward, rock back, and OUT!!

The next minute is largely a blur, but I remember the sudden rush of cold air, the roar of the wind, my mouth turning dry in an instant, and sheer exhiliration. As J expertly manuvered around us, I smiled and posed the best I could. He distracted me from any fears that may have arisen and as a result I mostly looked ahead and around instead of down. Eddie was fun too and he pulled some delightful poses. The fall was both fast and slow and in my last moments of freefall, I remember J spinning around like a top and my downward velocity reversed in an instant as the chute opened above us. The air became calmer immediately, and after the second chute opened and we glided a bit, Eddie said I could remove my goggles and just relax. I still had my contacts in, of course, so taking off goggles at 6,000 feet made me a little nervous, but the air was still so it was fine. We drifted for a few minutes admiring the view of the Illinois countryside (Chicago alas was too far away). I landed in a bit of a heap and after freeing myself from Eddie, triumphantly walked back to the hangar. Although I was last out, I managed to barely beat Dad and Sachi. No fair!

After getting our DVDs and paying, we headed back to the city. The whole adventure took about 6 hours (driving to and from, waiting, and diving) so we were hungry by the time we got back into town. The rain that had passed us had passed into Chicago so navigating the streets was a little harrowing, but we managed to find India House, a fabulous Indian restaurant that Bonnie and I had gone to with her friends to celebrate her birthday last October. The food was wonderful and after we said it was Dad's birthday, our waiter brought out a delicious dessert of kulfi (Indian ice cream), light cake, and orange slices.

After dinner we drove back to my apartment where we chatted with B&J a bit before I packed up things to send home and we got ready for bed.

21 Jun: This morning we ate brunch at the Mellow Mushroom (not the pizza place in Raleigh) along 53rd street. It's an old-timey breakfast place that serves omelets, waffles, pancakes, etc. After the hearty meal, it was straight back to the apartment for some final packing, directions, and then goodbye. Such a delightful visit filled with memories I shall treasure for years to come. I didn't do much the rest of day except check in with the family occasionally to make sure they were doing fine. Next trip...December!

Rest of Family Visit: 16 Jun- 18 Jun

To keep things brief and reasonably current, I'm going to sum up the rest of my family's visit to Chicago.

16 Jun: It's Monday and we're greeted by the first bout of rain in days. Fortunately, we had planned a trip to Devon today and since we didn't leave the hotel until almost 11, we managed to miss all the showers. Devon Avenue is essentially Little India (and I guess Little Pakistan...how 'bout Little South Asia?) located south of Evanston and north of Lakeview/Lincoln Park. The street is lined with shops selling everything Indian from sarees to sweets, aliments to accoutrement, and Bollywood CDs to chapatis. The sights and smells assault the senses and for a brief moment one can imagine being on the streets of Mumbai or Bangalore. We strolled around for some time, eating lunch in a couple of different small restaurants and checking out some music and cooking utensils in various shops.

After lunch we decided to head out to the western suburbs to visit the IKEA store in Schaumburg. This adventure took up most of the remaining day and concluded at an Olive Garden in the mall complex near the IKEA. I managed to stock up on some new clothing and found some things for the apartment (some sweet glasses and an organizer). It was back to the hotel after dinner.

17 Jun: Tuesday and we're off to Wisconsin for a couple of days. The Wisconsin Dells are much heralded for their beauty and affinity for water parks, so thanks to some research by my mom and sister, we headed there for a spell. Given the recent flooding in the area, accomodations were easy to secure so we focused on lunch and entertaining ourselves first. Lunch was at a festive Mexican restaurant overlooking a lake. I had a strawberry-mango margarita that was about the size of my head and quite delicious. After lunch we booked ourselves a Duck tour and river boat ride. The "ducks" are amphibious vehicles that were employed during WWII to ferry soldiers to shore from the warships that could not approach the coast thanks to various obstacles such as mines and artificial barrier reefs. Many of these vehicles have since been co-opted into entertainment vehicles that allow civilians, like ourselves, to ride around in them on land and on the water. The river boat ride, although longer and more scenic, did not have the same novelty as an amphibious boat. Alas.

After our boating adventures, it was time for dinner. Thanks to our GPS, we selected a pizza place near the hotel. It quickly became apparent that this place was popular with the locals, though we were seated astonishingly quickly upon arrival, despite the crowd waiting in the foyer. Maybe it was my Indiana Jones hat. Dinner was delicious and a satisfying end to a long day.

18 Jun: Wednesday and it's time to head back to the city. On our way, we did what every real visitor to Wisconsin must do. Visit a cheese factory! (Green Bay Packers fans are not called "cheeseheads" for nothin'). The one we chose was both open to visitors, offered a tour, and was not too far out of our way back south. Perfect. The manager generously gave us about 40 minutes of his time to explain the cheesemaking process and though we didn't get a walk-around tour, he pointed out through the window step-by-step what was transpiring on the floor. Naturally, we bought about five pounds of the cheese including a few bags of "cheese curds", a favorite treat with locals (if it's not squeaky, it's not really fresh!).

Our Wisconsin experience was not complete without a stop at a Culver's restaurant. For those on the West Coast, Culver's is much like an In N' Out burger. I don't know the equivalent on the East Coast. Perhaps a Cook Out for you NC folks. In any case, it's a popular chain that serves comfort food from burgers to fries to various ice cream treats (ice cream is another thing you simply must try in Wisconsin. A state that has that many cows must have good cheese and ice cream. Beer factors in as well, but that's because there's so much leftover grain from feeding all those cows :) ). We ordered conservatively at first, but after some prodding from our cashier, our order rapidly expanded until she was convinced we'd order half the menu. It was delicious.

Finally, back to the city. We stopped in Evanston to pick up Kevin since it's a tradition that we always have to take him out for food when the family's in town. Works out well for him, eh? We moved from our hotel out in the burbs to one right smack in downtown that we got at a deep discount thanks to it's grand opening. After settling down, we walked out to catch a trolley to Navy Pier. Navy Pier, as the name implies, was originally established as a commerical enterprise that also served military purposes during the Second World War. Since it's on a great lake (and not the ocean like naval bases in Maryland and Virginia), the utility was necessarily limited and Navy Pier is long past it's naval days and now the most popular destination in all of Chicago. Taking about 40 minutes to walk up and down, the Pier is a treat for the senses. Lined with food stalls and entertainment options, it's a great place for kids and adults alike on a sunny summer afternoon. There's a Ferris Wheel for those who want a nice view of the Chicago skyline and an IMAX theater for those who prefer to soar to new heights more passively.

After a stroll along the pier, it was time to think dinner. Kevin recommended Khyber Pass, an Indian restaurant he and his Northwestern friends had visited some time earlier. The food was decent, but the service rather deplorable considering we were some of the only guestst that night. Oh well. The real treat came after dinner as we caught the fireworks display from the Pier. The show is put on every Wednesday and Saturday and is beautiful if rather (understandably) brief. We bid Kevin farewell by the river and then headed back to the hotel.

Sunday, 15 Jun cont

So now we're at Second City. Before we left the field, Sachi made an important discovery. She realized that she had only purchased 3 tickets for the show instead of 4 after being used to counting in terms of three for so long. Oops! While she was on the phone, my folks and I discussed who would get left behind while the others watched the show. Turns out, we didn't have to resort to drawing straws since Sachi was able to acquire one more ticket. Disaster averted!

On to the show. The troupe was hilarious as expected, regaling us with funny takes on what it's like to live in Chicago (from the Lakeshore Drive "rollercoaster" to the different attributes of Chicago neighborhoods) as well as some digs at politicians and entertainment celebrities (most notably R. Kelly). At one point, in a song discussing how our stereotypes tend to be confirmed whether we like them to or not, the singers reached their "Indians always smell like curry" line. The four of us were seated rather conspicuously near the front and naturally the singers looked at us significantly during that line. It was hilarious (and you know we do, that stereotype is totally true. Along with Indians being super smart and able to break into song and dance on a whim).

After the show, we caught a belated dinner at a little Mexican place in Lincoln Park that was fortunately still open. From there it was back to the hotel for some rest.

Congratulations Michael Phelps!

I will return to my story (related belatedly) shortly. First, a quick Olympic update and tribute to a man many are calling "the greatest Olympian of all time".

Citius, Altius, Fortius.

During this past week, I have been fortunate to watch Olympic history being made in Beijing, China. Ever since the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, I have been a huge fan of the Olympic Games (hence referred to as OG for simplicity's sake). I have diligently watched every OG: Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens, Torino, and now Beijing, whether I've been in Round Rock (TX), Cary (NC), London (England), or Chicago (IL). Not being very athletic myself, excellence in sport is something I have long admired in my friends, countrymen, and fellow human beings. The OG offers a chance every two years to witness arguably the highest form of such excellence in sport in the world and I don't want to miss a minute of it if I can help it. I love how the Olympics brings the world together and asks all of those participating and watching to seek the best in themselves. For these all-too-brief fortnights, conflicts can (mostly) be put on hold, disputes delayed, and patriotism rekindled.

Faster, higher, stronger. These adjectives, the motto of the OG, also embody the goal of each Olympic athlete to achieve the superlative of each: fastest, highest, and strongest. This week in Beijing the world has witnessed what may be considered the greatest single performance at an OG:

American swimmer Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals in eight events (5 individual and 3 team), 7 of those in world-record time and the last in Olympic record time.

Yes, he is perhaps the most overexposed athlete so far of these Games. We know what he eats, when he sleeps, what he wears, and how he trains. But we still don't know how he did it. How he made history for the most number of gold medals won at a single Games, winter or summer. How they were all in record time. How they all took place over the course of just nine days. And most of all, how he made many of them look so easy. Was it the new LAZR suit from Speedo? Was it the "faster" pool in Beijing? Was he sent from the future to compete with mere mortals today? Whatever it was, however he did it, we know one thing for sure: Michael Phelps is an incredible athlete and has set a new benchmark many will admire and others will aspire to surpass. Congratulations Mr. Phelps. I hope to see you shine again four years from now in London.

On the Olympics in general:

The modern games, begun in 1896 in Athens, Greece, involve the traditional Olympian events such as the marathon, wrestling, and running, and also include various point-based sports such as soccer, basketball, handball, water polo, etc, as well as more subjective events such as gymnastics and figure skating.

The latter two, as much as I (and millions of others) enjoy watching them, should not be Olympic sports in their current form. Although these athletes are superb at what they do, from leaping into the air and performing dizzying spins to pulling an "iron cross," the ultimate gymnastics feat-of-strength, the judging and subjectivity involved in determining the best performance is just too much to be called a "sport." Real sports are by and large objective; the most (or least) points, the fastest time, the highest height, the heaviest weight, etc. The only subjectivity permissible should come from judging penalties. (For that matter, cheerleading is an athletic activity too, but not a sport).

If I had it my way, the IOC would determine fixed routines of different levels, say "easy," "medium," and "hard." For example, of the four apparatus on which the women gymnasts compete (floor, balance beam, uneven bars, and vault), only the floor would be open to "free expression" or a routine entirely of the athlete's choosing (this would encourage and reward creativity). Athletes can pick any combination of difficulties, from all easy to all hard and everything in between. By having everyone compete from the same pool of routines, each performance can be compared more objectively with the others. For some people, such a competition would be more boring (most likely current gymnasts and former gymnasts who are commentators for gymnastics events). Frankly, most spectators cannot tell the difference between the skills of one routine and the next, but can usually tell the difference between a well or poorly executed routine. Given this observation, people viewing these events will still be entertained and the athletes will be judged more fairly. This system could also be implemented for the men's gymnastics and both men and women's figure skating for the winter Games.

But after all, who am I to judge how Olympic events should be run? I am no gymnast, figure skater, swimmer, skier, hurdler, luger, wrestler, bobsledder, pole vaulter, or athlete period. I do love the Olympic Games, however, and believe that such displays of amazing athleticism should be rewarded with as little bias as possible.

Sunday, 15 Jun

All right, enough of the present tense. I'm writing about past events and will thus tense my sentences appropriately. Note, pictures of the trip can be viewed on my Facebook page until I find the time (if I ever do) to eventually move everything to flickr as Saket has done. At least I made a flickr account before he did!
Today was Father's Day, and to celebrate we spent the morning and afternoon downtown at the Museum campus, followed by a show at Second City up in Lincoln Park. Three of Chicago's finest museums/learning centers, the Field Museum (natural history), Shedd Aquarium (duh), and the Adler Planetarium (more duh), are located on a beautiful part of the lake shore within easy access by foot or car from downtown. Not only are the grounds well kept and the buildings stately and grand, but to walk to the end of the pier on which the planetarium sits is to be rewarded with one of the finest views of the Chicago skyline in the entire city. The only view that rivals it, according to locals, can be found on the South Side at "The Point." But I digress.

We started first at the Field Museum since it's my favorite museum in Chicago so far (granted, I've only visited four as of this post and there are many more) and the one I really wanted to show off. We arrived around 11 and after parking took a nice stroll alongside Soldier Field (which also happens to be right next to the Museum campus whose parking lot is conveniently co-opted during Bears' games). Soldier Field, as the name implies, is a dedication to the armed servicemen and women of the United States who served our nation bravely through many a conflict. It is also home to the Chicago Bears, the only professional football team of the state of Illinois and one Chicagoans (yes, that's the right term to refer to a resident of Chicago, not "Chicagoite," "Chicagan," "Chi-towner," etc...) hold near and dear to their hearts (especially last year when they faced the Colts in the Super Bowl yet sadly lost despite an incredible opening kickoff touchdown run by Devin Hester which was the first of its kind). Back to the museum.

The Field Museum boasts a first-rate collection of natural and historical artifacts from around the world. One of the highlights is a nearly complete (and largest ever found) fossilized skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex known affectionately as "Sue" (named after the archaeologist, Sue Hendrickson, who found her decades ago in South Dakota). Appropriately, Sue greets visitors to the museum almost as soon as they walk in, much like the way the famed Rosetta Stone is kept front and center at the British Museum in London. Sometimes it pays to put the best first instead of last. Along with Sue, the Field has a whole suite of exquisitely preserved dinosaur bones and an excellent display regarding evolution. Instead of presenting this well-supported scientific theory as a bunch of facts on placards, the museum has constructed a "walk through time" in which visitors start at the beginning nearly 4.6 billion years ago and literally move through the ages as they walk through exhibits explaining concepts from tectonics plates and climate change to speciation and extinction. This type of presentation not only conveys evolution as a logical progression of events but explains much of the rationale behind the theory and why its conclusions are so relevant today. A relatively new addition to the exhibit, which is possible due to the efforts of the provost of the museum, and a professor at my university, Dr. Neil Shubin, is known as Tiktaalik and represents one of the long sought-after "transitional forms" both evolutinists (and their "foes" creationists/IDers) have been yearning for as support/proof for the theory of evolution.

Why are there so few fossils like Tiktaalik? Why don't we see more transitional forms if evolution is a gradual process by which one species can become another? Simply put, the answer is far from simple. A large part of the evidence for evolution (both human and non-human) comes from fossilized or otherwise preserved remains that allow scientists to link present and past forms together and see what has changed and what has remained the same. Fossils are great evidence because they can be quantified in terms of size, weight, physical condition (tooth marks, burn marks, boiling, relative age, etc) and age in terms of how long ago the fossil was created (usually by dating the rocks in which the bones are found). They can also help reconstruct extinct species and give us an idea of what older creatures looked like, how they moved, what they ate, etc. In short, fossils open a wide window to the past. These windows, however, are hard to find largely because making them requires special conditions and finding them is largely the work of sheer luck. Windows are also easily dirtied by the elements and fossils are no exception. Contamination from recently dead material can lead to sometimes disastrous misdating of remains which muddies timelines and casts doubt on both evolution and the validity of radiometric dating methods. It is due to all these difficulties that the finding of Tiktaalik is such a big deal. All we need to do now is find more of them. Good luck Dr. Shubin!

The Field kept us occupied for a couple hours and then it was a quick bite to eat at the Corner Bakery in the museum (quite delicious actually). After our brief rest we headed further out onto the pier to the Adler Planetarium which was free that day. Unfortunately, our time there was all too brief since we had to make our way up to Lincoln Park in time to catch our Second City show. I mean to go back there at some point. I've always been a space geek and this planetarium, though geared towards young people, ain't half bad.

The Second City is an improvisational comedy club whose reputation stems from the fact that many well-known and beloved comedians (from Jim Belushi to Tina Fey) got their start/big break by being on the SC cast. "Second City" is also a nickname for Chicago since, for the longest time, Chicago was "second" after New York City in terms of population and size. Currently, Los Angeles holds the title of "second city" though Chicago could reclaim the name if it wins the bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.

As this post is getting rather lengthy, I'll continue the rest of the story in the next one.