Hey June

The first weekend in June saw the arrival of Cody Engel and his wily, 6 year-old offspring, Milo. We did the tourist/fanny pack thing, hitting up Lou Malnati's (and their creepy Bulls paintings) for some deep dish before storming the gates of the Hancock Building, Navy Pier, Millennium Park, Michigan Avenue and the Lincoln Park Zoo.

At one point Cody left his phone in a cab, causing him to sweat like Marlon Brando at Wing Fest, yet the story had a happy ending, for what the cabby lacked in English he made up for with integrity and an investigative spirit not seen since the heyday of Sherlock Holmes. We were reunited with Cody's phone the next day, but not five minutes later our elation turned to horror, as upon entering the zoo, we witnessed a giant ape eat his own poop.

Milo is quite the little movie buff, so we ended up going to see Up (good) and Land of the Lost (not good), and capped off each night with some games FIFA 09', reruns of Flight of the Concords and Thai delivery. We sent the leftovers to the Lincoln Park Zoo, care of 'giant apes'.

Cody and Milo at Lou Malnati's.

Since then we've kept busy with Andersonville Summerfest, our hood's annual street fair, replete with happy gay men, Goose Island beer, fancy strollers and of course, the ubiquitous shirtless leathery guy drinking Busch and taking your picture while you pretend to surf on a plastic tidal wave.

We also took in a Cubs game last Sunday, this time much more successful than our first foray, as the Cubs handed Kerry Wood's Indians a 6-2 loss while we sunned ourselves in the bleachers. People watching (or as Katy calls it, 'd-bag watching') in the bleachers really never gets old, especially when accompanied by a Cubs win and the chance to sing 'Go Cubs Go'.

The footlong dog at Wrigley. Kraut, grilled onions, tomatoes, mustard and relish for color. Don't be a wuss and get those crappy steamed ones that the vendors come around selling. Those things are barely a step above jailhouse slop. Not pictured: Mandatory nachos with extra peppers.

I've been keeping busy with work, helping out with a couple of red carpet events and press tours and planning a few more of my own. The next two weekends we'll be back in Iowa, splitting time between Cedar Rapids and Waterloo this weekend and then spending the Fourth in Okoboji with Dad and Chris. I haven't been to Okoboji since I was tight-rolling my Dockers and hanging posters of a still black Jacko* (RIP) on my wall, so that should be fun.

I imagine that one of those weekends may mark the first time all summer I've been able to take my shirt off, so ladies, you're in for a real treat. In most cultures, me taking my shirt off for the first time marks the official beginning of summer, kind of like a white trash Groundhog Day type of thing. If the glare from my chest blinds onlookers that means only 2 more months of summer! Keep your fingers crossed and your sunglasses on.

*No joke, that really was the first poster I ever had up in my room when I was like 5. Kind of creepy in hindsight.

Cody and Milo at Navy Pier. Milo is looking for Somalian Pirates!

View from the Hancock Building. If you look closely you can see our place, with Carmella sitting in the window, looking indifferent.

The view from the bleachers at the Friendly Confines.