Break, Indeed

I've been off school for about a week now, and it's been amazing. I've been a model(?) of sloth for said week, and it's been legitimately re-energizing. I really think the timing of this break was spot on. If we would've had to go another two weeks or so, I may have come close to burnout. Towards the end of the semester (especially after Thanksgiving) I just didn't care as much, and my grades definitely reflect that. Ah well though, at least there's only three more semesters of hardcore books and some board exams before I really get out to the hospital. Hopefully the grass is greener over there.

Until then, I think I'll be better prepared to finish out semesters. Then again, word on the street is next semester's finals week is supposed to be kinda brutal. Even more so since this semester's wasn't actually too bad, and I still struggled. That's neither here nor now though. Don't mean to throw a pity party, but just trying to give an idea of how much I'm enjoying this break - even if there are no real highlights to it.

The only real flurry of "activity" came directly after finals. One of the first things I did after my last final was have a few beers in lieu of our usual brunch at Sweet Maple Cafe. Different from our normal post-exam routine, but still nice nonetheless. Watched some Man vs. Wild up close on a friend's DLP, and then picked up the parents from Union Station. Why were the parents in town? Mostly because I paid the United Center a second visit in as many months. This time the occasion was Bulls vs. Knicks. The Bulls won, which is always a nice (if not rare) plus. It was against the Knicks though... But the seats were pretty amazing - lower level, a few rows behind the floor seats. IMO, pretty much the same view as the floor seats, but cheaper. Of course, "cheaper" is a relative term when you start getting that close to the court.

Aside from all that, it's been hanging out around home, catching up with friends, getting some Halo 3/Guitar Hero 3 time in, watching movies I've wanted to for the past few months, and a lot of sleeping. I could definitely get used to this again. :) I'm sure this'll all end a lot faster than I want it to. I suppose all good things...

In the meantime - Merry Christmas kids!

A Day in the Life (Picture Version)

A disclaimer since this post has been brewing for awhile. As of approximately 20 minutes ago, this "a day in the life" is no longer valid. Why? Because this M1 is done for the semester!!!

This edition of "a day in the life" is going to be mostly pictures. The snow got me in a picture taking mood last week.

Destination: UIC-COM

View from my roof. The tower way in the background amongst the snow is where I'm trying to get to. Hooray for UIC.

Home Sweet Home

The taller building to the left of the light post/parking sign is my building. I'll be seeing it later in the day. Much later.

Side Street

Yay for one of my side streets! All the residential roads take a back seat to clearing out the arterial roads. Clearly, they're still being worked on.

Polk and Ashland

Here's one of those main roads I was talking about. Anyway, I'm coming up on the Illinois Medical District. The tall building in the background is UIC's Clinical Sciences North and is the tower that I mentioned from the roof of my building. It's about a block east of the College of Medicine. The tan/white bridge structure over the road in the background is the Polk L stop - one of two ways I get to downtown.

Polk and Wood Streets

Clinical Sciences North is on the left of the pic. The COM includes the tower in the background. Cook County Hospital is the building in the right background, about a block away. This area's also where this M1 partook in a snowball ambush by nightfall. Hey - we need study breaks too.

Heading Downtown

This is from a bridge a few blocks from my place. So there's the Eisenhower Expressway down below. In the median runs the Blue Line and the other of the two L stations I hop on for downtown. Unfortunately, I'm usually heading downtown to study.

Ramping

If you look at the last pic, you'll see that there are two ramps heading down to the L platform. Aforementioned ramp.

Jackson/Dearborn Station

Here's the subway stop I get off at when I'm heading to Depaul. It leaves me about two blocks away from their campus. Jackson is definitely one of the nicer and newer stations in Chicago's subways.

Dearborn Street

Dearborn Street looking north. Here's one of the exits from the Jackson station. I think that the Red Line's and Jackson's subway entrances look pretty nice - definitely cleaner and more modern than some of the other ones.

Jackson and State Streets

The building behind Walgreens and above the Barnes and Noble is Depaul's Loop campus. If I'm not around the UIC area, there's a good chance you can find me around this part of town. The Garrett's popcorn shop on the left has some pretty good popcorn for sale - if you like caramel or cheese popcorn.

Adams and Wabash

The bridges over the street in the background are the Adams/Wabash L station. If I'm heading directly to or from UIC, this is the L station I hop on to/off from. The Pink Line then leaves me about two blocks from the COM building and right across the street from our library.

Eisenhower/Loop, Night Version

This is usually the scene if I'm heading home from downtown. Unfortunately, I'm heading to my study group.

So that's a typical day for me in terms of moving about. No pics of classrooms or libraries, because I'd feel kinda weird busting out a camera for those. I said earlier that I was in a picture taking mood last week, and as such I ended up snapping a few pictures.

~Roosevelt and Michigan

Looking north across Grant Park.

From Adler Planetarium

From Shedd Aquarium

Let It Snow!

So, today was the year's first real snow. Although, we did have an ice storm last weekend. (Hint: 1/2 inch of ice is not fun to scrape off a car.) Back to the snow though. I think it looks pretty good around the city. Then again, I'm not having to drive or shovel through any of it. (Yay for the L and apartment living!) Anyway, as a study break, I snapped a few pics.

The Park Next to My Apartment

I haven't really used this park all that much. Although, it's nice to have the option.

Depaul Loop Campus
(State/Jackson)
One of my homes away from home. I like studying up in their library because there's no homeless (Chicago public library) and there's a bunch of food options around (unlike UIC's library). I might be mentioning this place as part of a future post.

Wrigley Building
The clock reminds me of the one from city hall in Back to the Future. I don't think Chicago would be cool with "weather experiments" on this particular one.

On the State Street Bridge

I've always thought the bridges over the river looked cool. Can't really see that in the darkness though. Aforementioned Wrigley Building in the background, Trump Tower being built in the left foreground.

Magnificent Mile
(~Grand/Michigan)

I like how Chicago dresses up downtown for Christmas. All the trees are lit up and quite a few skyscrapers even have red/green lights up top.