Dave Page

Bette and I attended the Woodstock Children’s Summer Theatre performance of HSM at the Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock IL. We have attended many events there, by far this was the loudest — not the show, but the audience. We went to the 2PM show with two young friends, Raea and Keefer, and to fit into their schedule we went to the same show that was a prize for reading library books. Translated — lots of younger kids, and they mostly don’t shut up for most of the show. We were in the center balcony, good seats, really. We were usually on the main floor for past shows, but these were the hottest tickets in years…

We knew Daniel Rausch, the youngest, and sadly the last, of the uber-talented Rausch boys; he was the lead. We enjoyed the PA announcer. The cast was good. Although they were miked up, sometimes the audio was not good, especially given the bad signal-to-noise ratio. But we got the jist of it, and the dancing was wonderful.

Two 10-ish-year-old girls behind us were talking and one mentioned (while the show was going on), “I don’t like this one — they are not the real people.” True, but perhaps she missed the point a bit. It was a fun visit to a new play for us, and for $6 apiece, much better than paying some adult troupe to pretend they are high schoolers for $70 each.

The young thespians constantly amaze us with their talents.

Afterwards, we headed to the Club for a nice dinner, where the kids were well behaved and enjoyed the piano player, Dean Malsack, where he regaled us with stories of his Baldwin piano with black keys.

On 10 July Bette and I attended the Faculty/Student Benefit Concert for the Dance/Movement Therapy & Counseling Department of Columbia College, Chicago. Why?

We responded in late spring to a letter from Alexandria, a local DMTC Master’s candidate (who actually attended Marian Central) who, for her thesis, held a series of workshops for bereaved parents, using physical activity (or movement) to bring relief. The usual attack is via long drawn out sessions of discussion, which Bette and I both found useful after Sarah died, but this was different. There was discussion, but also a lot of breath work and physical activity. The last session, we played in a 12 foot loop of a diaphanous stretch fabric, which opened our eyes to play and remembering things. She also took some video of us acting out scenes from our memory.

Her thesis was turning these experiences into dance.

The dance was called Buried Treasure, and was part of a series of recital pieces from the students and staff of the department. It was a lot of fun, and the music was very good too. I always find new music when attending these things (just like working with Poms). And I was thinking, I should have invited Poms (and alumnae) to this - they would have loved it. It was a benefit for some scholarships for students, who were awarded them after the dance was over. Just like a Sarah clinic!

Afterwards, there was a nice reception catered by the Melting Pot fondue (chain) restaurant, with a fountain of chocolate martinis and chocolate fondue with fruit and Rice Krispies treats. We were able to talk to Alexandria, who was pouring (free) wine, and she told us she had reviewed the video for our physical presentation and used that to choreograph the dancers for her piece. A lot of thought went into it - amazing. She used the best line, “Everyone grieves in their own way”. If everyone remembered that, the trip would be a lot easier.

Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL
Melting Pot, 609 N. Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60654

Update– here is the playlist — I love music for these things - artists have lots of ideas!
1. Savage Acquiescence / “Fade To Black” by Apocalyptica from “Inquisition Symphony”
2. a sublimer / “Weird Fishes / Arpeggi” by Radiohead from “In Rainbows”
3. Communion / “Journeying” by Steve Halpern from ?
more to come…
4. “Nobody knows the trouble i see” / trad. spiritual
4a. “Trampled Rose” by Alison Krauss from “Raising Sand” (unbelievable)
5. Buried Treasures / “Silent World” by Donna Lewis from “Now In A Minute”
6. Matters of Self / “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap from “Speak For Yourself”
7. moving through / “Guaranteed”, “No Ceiling” and “Rise” by Eddie Vedder from the “Into the Wild” soundtrack.
8. Beating / “Feedback”, “So Much Betta” by Janet Jackson
9. Euphoric - Inherent - Drive
10. Shapeshifting
11. Disquieted Front / “Biscuit” by Portishead from “Dummy” (Sarah had this album!)
12. Two Moons
13. Work, Play, Love
14. BESS in Hip Hop / “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson, “Dance and Shout” by Shaggy, “Track 1″ by Dabrye, “Go Girl” by Pitbull

We arose early, to grab some coffee and fruit and headed out at 7 to the race site. We found Sara there by phone. Sam was in an early wave, and was in the water by the time we got there, so we waited on the beach for him to come out. Their running friend Gretchen was also racing, but we missed her. After Sam came out, we went to the transition area, but he was too quick by the time we got over the bridge.

We crossed the other ped bridge and chatted with Sara and her friends from East Troy and Amy, her BFF from Whitewater who arrived soon after dropping off Sara. Our Sarah’s friend from Woodstock, Alexis, now living in St. Paul, met us on the beach. Sara moved off to occupy her slot in Wave 39, and waited to go into the water. We found in her in the chute out to the water, and then moved to the other side of the beach to wait for her to come out.

After she came out in a surprisingly short 20 minutes (Sara did the sprint course, and swam much better than she expected) we tried to get thru the crowds on the ped bridge to the transition area. Bette pushed a little and butted in line, and saw Sara. We didn’t, but waited to see Sam come in from his bike. He came in about ½ hour later, and by that time we were found by Uncle Lou. We cheered, he came to kiss Karin, and he was off on the run. Sara came in about 30 minutes later, and we cheered her and she trotted off on her shorter run.

Then we headed off to the finish line, staked out our spot near the bridge, and waited. Sara came in soon, and then Sam and Gretchen. Turns out Gretchen was cramping and was feeling bad and bailed before the 2nd lap.

We headed back to Sam and Karin’s and made burgers and dogs for lunch and visited. Alexis and Gretchen headed out, and we prepared for our evening with Chef Vincent.

Sam ran this there with Chef Vincent’s team, a fundraiser for Fraser, a support organization for Minnesota special needs persons and their families. Sam raised quite a bit, including OUR donation, and all the team runners got a nice Chef Vincent running jersey and invites to the post-race party at his establishment, Vincent: A Restaurant in the Nicollet Mall. We valet parked and passed white linen alfresco seating and were directed up the stairs.

We were on time, and it was still empty, but the wine was out and some of the food was there, so we dug in. Vincent is a French native, and the restaurant leans French, but he had an eclectic combo of appetizers – and lots of them. My favorite was the Veggie tempura and the salmon toast, and the beef thingies – heck it was all good. Nothing was bad. Okay, the fries were the real thin ones, and those are very hard to keep warm. Everything else was great.

Sam and I talked to Vincent, and he is an interesting guy. Nice, and with a lot to say. We chatted about his work with the organization and his restaurant. Then I spoke with a gentleman, Joe, who is taking Vincent and a bunch of bikers to ride around Provence. Joe’s Mello Velo tours were about $3K less airfare, but the idea of waking up at 10, riding thru wonderful countryside, and returning to a chef-cooked dinner sounds really nice. Except they do 100 miles a day - a bit much for this couch potato.

We headed back to the house, and sat on the porch with some more wine discussing how weird our families are till 11. Time for bed.

The next morning, Amy and Sara, along with Lou and Joan came by for a fresh Frittata breakfast from Chef Sam. Joan and Sara rode back with us to the Fort and home.

Vincent: A Restaurant, 11th Street and Nicollet Mall

Up in Minneapolis to visit Sam and Karin and cheer them on at the Lifetime fitness triathlon. We arrived Friday from a series of thunderstorms thru Wisconsin, and the weather in Minneapolis was gorgeous, but real hot and humid.

We checked into the Casa, and visited with Sam for a while. Karin was out getting groceries. Sara was competing in the sprint distance event, but was out with her BFF Amy from Whitewater for dinner. We would see her tomorrow.

We sat around and chatted awhile and headed off to Al Vento, a local Italian place for carbo-loading. It was busy, with outside seating, we chose to be inside to stay cool. Sam was preparing for a race, of course – we have to be serious.

We started out with Truffled pecorino packets with Swiss chard and brown butter, fried pillows of Pecorino cheese with an oil sauce. Yum! Sam, Karin and I split a bottle of the house Solapaca Rosso red. Bette had a Sauvignon Blanc and Karin had some Col Vetoraz Prosecco sparkling.

Bette and I split the beet salad (Roasted beet with frisee balsamic vinaigrette and hazelnuts), excellent. Sam and Karin split the Mista with balsamic blood orange and local Donnay goat cheese salad, a collection of greens. The choices for dinner were excellent. I never heard of Radiatore, but it is a pasta resembling radiators in meat sauce. Sam had that, and I had the bucattinni, with noodles with a more spicy meat sauce. Mmm. Karin had spaghetti (Spaghetti with mother sauce and veal meatballs) with meat sauce and Bette had the halibut.

We topped off the meal with dessert. Bette & I split a pistachio Semi Fredo …..which was spectacular, but I can’t remember a thing about — I think a ganache type thing. Karin had a Chocolate Oblivion cake, and Sam had a scoop of gelato.

A great meal – Sam said the next day the meat sauce was probably more that he should have had before a triathlon, but, what the heck. This was a nice place, fun atmosphere with a young crowd, and great food. Recommended.

Al Vento, 5001 34th Ave. S., Minneapolis MN

At the Green Zebra we got a little of everything. Yes, it is loud and expensive, and yes, you may hit White Castle on the way home, but it was all good…

We had some beignets. We had two orders of potstickers (Curried Potato Potstickers, cilantro tamarind sauce, fresh coconut) for appetizers. We had roasted beets (Roasted Beets, wasabi gelee, cocoa nib foam, chippys) yum!

Good but small pricey plates. I had the chef’s selection which are all the items on hand in small quantities, each individually explained to me.

I had a rare Vos Amber Belgian-style ale — should have done wine, bottle was huge but good… Lots of wine all around. We had a Sha Na Nas, a Sundance and a Drunken Peach — sounds like Sara’s drinks! Should have gotten the wine flight, but I was smashed as it was.

Bette had a good halibut. (Vegetarian???) They have a great Tater Tot facsimile (Potato Tots, sunny-side up egg, nicoise olives, heirloom tomatoes).

I had the Thai spiced soup (Thai Spiced Carrot Soup, crispy rice noodles) and loved it. It had a cilantro foamy sauce on the surface. Actually, Brad had it too - was good to see him outside of his zone. Someone had Heart of Palm (Hawaiian Heart of Palm, blueberries, passion fruit cream, szechuan peppercorn). We had the tofu (Crispy Tofu, Thai basil, baby bok, Jasmine rice). Someone had the popover (Foraged Mushroom Popover, smoked cippolinis, Michigan cherries, manchego), a kind of pastry thing. We had artichokes (Marinated Artichokes and Feta cheese, arugula, preserved lemon). We had cucumbers (Cucumber and Radish Salad, sea beans, kohlrabi, greek yogurt panna cotta).

Desserts: French press coffee, I had ti kuan yin tea (no big deal), Alberto had a good looking cheescake, Bette and I split a chocolate cake. Someone had the Napoleon. One had poppy cake. None was poisonous.

We caught Gemma taking pictures of the food for Pro Bono Baker. She looked a little embarrassed, but I wondered how she got all those great food pictures for her blog. Now we know.

After dinner, Sara left to visit sister Liz and Alberto and Chellie invited us to their new condo on Franklin in the River North area. We cabbed back to the condo and went up the elevator to 11. What a nice place. They had nice art, a view of the buildings on the river. The club across the street was loud they said, but that what happens in the city.

Alberto talked me into some Lambrusco, a slightly fizzy wine. Good, but on top of the other wine I was flying. Good thing we were cabbing back to the Hyatt. Bad thing was I had to get up the next day for a train back to work.

They had art from Alberto’s trip to Guatemala, and also a 4-image panel from a local artist, who makes cartoony images in the style of Roy Lichtenstein. Their panels were of Chellie’s various pet sayings, but a lot of thought went into the characters and the placement. Amazing.

Chellie gave Bette her birthday presents, a small red book of Italian cooking, and a succulent e.g. cactus in a lovely pot. Very nice. We wobbled back to the hotel.

Green Zebra Chicago 1460 west chicago ave. • chicago illinois 60622

For her birthday, Bette wanted to go to the Green Zebra, a nouveau-vegetarian restaurant in River West Chicago. We heard about it, seen on Check Please, and talked about with friends, none of whom had anything bad to say. Sign me up!

Sara, Bette and I headed down on Wednesday afternoon on Metra, overstuffed heavy hanging bag in hand. Hanging bags are very hard to manage when overstufffed — bulky! Bette was attending the Delta Delta Delta convention at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, so we were staying overnight. Sara had to work the next day, so she was training back.

Since it was holiday weekend, the $5 passes were for sale. The train is so nice for going downtown. The Hyatt is a good 1.5 miles from the train, and there was no way I was carrying the bag that far without a shopping cart. So we hopped in a cab with a dour driver and were there in a few minutes.

We checked in, while I got over my feeling of deja-vu from being there the previous week for the Tufte seminar. We moved over to the assistant manager check-in desk since Bette’s Tri-Delta pals had only signed her up for one night, but things were settled, and we headed up to 2330. It overlooked the river and we could see the new Trump tower, Wrigley building, and other places. Nice room. I changed, Sara worked on her newly shorn locks for a few hours.

Plan A was to go to Chellie and Alberto’s new place, and check it out. Bette checked in with Chellie, and they were in the middle of finding a repair service to fix their A/C. So we would head over there after dinner. Plan B was the Big Bar downstairs.

Sara had been here before, and we pulled up to a table, noticing it was REAL hot there. I took off my sport coat and noticed the table was warm to the touch — maybe the sun was on it all morning, it was now cloudy. We ordered a large Cosmopolitan for $24. Well, it was large! It was a large martini glass about 1 foot tall and 8 inches in diameter with three straws. (No backwash!). Needless to say we were all a little tipsy leaving. And it was still early!

Had a little challenge getting a cab — waited too long, and the evening rush had started, soaking up most of the cabs that had been dawdling outside. We found one, called Chellie to warn her we were on the way, and called the restaurant to warn them we were late, and to expect Gemma, who is usually very punctual. As a matter of fact, she was already there!

We stopped at Chellie’s on Franklin to pick up her brother Brad who, a football player and big guy, would not fit into the back of Alberto’s Miata. 5 minutes later we were down Chicago Ave and at the Green Zebra.

Karin from work and I attended a one-day course, Presenting Data and Information, by Edward Tufte at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

I had read some of his stuff a year or two earlier, tried to go to the Chicago course, and our crack clerical staff missed the deadline and it was full. So here we go! Long walk from Metra station to E Wacker Drive. But nice. Good weather. Nice walk.

Showed up, found our way thru the rabbit warren, and registered. We were issued a heavy cardboard box of 4 of ET’s books, and a homework assignment for reading before the class started. I grabbed a Starbucks from the lobby, and off we went.

Big room, lots of people, and not a lot of personal space — typical seminar. We plopped down and read. ET held “office hours” for autograph seekers and questions before, at lunchtime, and afterwards. When does the guy go potty?

The course itself was interesting. The guy is a great speaker, engaging and interesting. The time flew by. He showed 16th century books as examples of books and graphics as timeless art. Neat.

We did the fast 15-minute lunch at Houlihan’s next door. In and out quick, I had a nice chicken wrap, but by the time you walk there, eat, and return it was time to get going again. And the Starbuck’s went away in the PM.

Most of the items listed on the list of items to be covered were indeed covered. The final items were design of information displays in public spaces and design of computer interfaces and manuals. These were the items we were interested in. We got some of the kiosk discussion, but I don’t think we got much of the design of interfaces and manuals. NOTE: I found a review of Visual Explanations with references to Web development, but upon review, it is good stuff, but not a cookbook, more a philosophy.

Tufte manages to get everything important about Web design onto pages 146 through 149 of this book: let the information become the interface, use text rather than icons, don’t let the Web site mimic the bureaucratic structure of the publisher. The most remarkable thing is that he wasn’t even writing about the Web!

On the way home, got some combo cheese-and-caramel corn from the Garrett’s popcorn kiosk in the Metra station. Made a nice snack for us later.

Summary: Good course. Neat to see the 16th century books. If you read and have the books, probably a waste of time and money. If you don’t do technical presentations with lots of tables trying to prove things, (like us) perhaps limited use. But hearing “KISS” once more can be a good thing. And bashing PowerPoint is always fun.

• One-day course, 380 USD per person.
• Includes:
• Visual Explanations
• Envisioning Information
• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
• Beautiful Evidence

Bette and I left Woodstock to pickup Jeff and Susie in Huntley at 4, leaving plenty of time to get downtown. We thought. We got on I-90 and after zipping down to Elgin, it just stopped. We thought we might have time to stop in Oak Park for some Robinson’s Ribs, but it took us 3 hours to get to the show. Ick.

Parked across the street at an unofficial parking lot, but the car pointed right out the gate for easy exit. It was a great spot.

We arrived around 6:30, and were able to find our seats (Section 112, Row 19, Seat 24) and they were nice – high, just under the rooms, right on the aisle, and over the walkway so we didn’t have anyone in front of us. Until later, when the dopes next to us were standing out in my line of sight, and I had to stand to see.

We had some food from the vendors in the lobby area. Bette and I had the Cajun chicken. We split it and an order of fries – good thing, because the thing was HUGE! It better be for $8. We had some wine, and went up to sit and watch the crowd gather.

The first act The National, came on at 7:10, a band I never heard of. I liked them, kind of a dreamy sound. The second act was Modest Mouse, who I had heard of, but never listened to. I liked some of their stuff but it was a little too intense for me. Susie and Jeff, however, had their CDs and considered their set a highlight of the evening. “Wait till the kids hear we saw Modest Mouse – we are so cool”.

R.E.M. came on and did a lot of songs from the new album, and a lot of oldies but goodies. It was a great show, and the Fan Club tickets rock. No discounts, but just not having to stand in line was worth the $10 a year. Plus you get the Holiday disc. If you like R.E.M., you should join.

United Center
R.E.M. Website
R.E.M. Fan Club Website

Sara and Ryan gave us a gift certificate for $25 for the Rosebud Cinema Drafthouse last year. We finally got around to using it at the 4PM show of “Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“. (The certificate had expired but Bette had called to confirm we could still use it). It looks like a small neighborhood theater, but in the lobby is a snack bar that sells *GASP* beer and wine. I ordered a Spotted Cow, Bette got some wine, Sara had some Mike’s concoction. We ordered the appetizer sampler plate with garlic cheese bread, fried mozz, onion rings and chicken fingers, took a plastic number ala Culver’s and headed into the theater.

We saw rows and rows of black velour loveseats, with nice side tables between each one to perch drinks and eats. We sat, set our number on the back of the sofa and waited. In 15 mins, our food came, delivered to the sofa. Way cool.

The movie was OK, typical Indiana Jones, he and Marion Ravenwood a bit older from when I first saw them, but with lots of crashing and smashing about. Bette liked the romantic angle. The ending was a bit bizarre, but on the whole it was fun. Especially on the sofa. With beer. I can deal with a much lower quality of movie in this environment.

We then headed out to find dinner. We started to head back to the expressway, but Sara mentioned the Chancery in Wauwatosa (or Tosa as those in the know call it), and we were driving right by. We parked, and walked across the street to check out the other restaurants along State Street. There was a brick oven pizza joint that looked good, but we walked to the corner and looked into Ristorante Bartolotta. Italian, nice bar, white linen tablecloths. Bette was all about this place. We went in, and found they were booked for dinner at a table, but we could get full service at the bar. I hesitated but Bette did not, and we joined up with Tim at the bar.

Tim set us up with white linen napkins (baby tablecloths) and knew good points and bad points of all the dishes. Bette and I got wine, me a Barbera “Le Orme” and Bette a Sauvignon Blanc. Sara wanted Riesling, but in Italy? Nein. Tim set her up with a rose colored “Bigaro”, a more dessert wine. She seemed to like it. Tim brought around the tongs and dug hunks of bread out of the bread bucket, and dished out the olive oil.

I had the Beef Filetto ($35) with nice garlic mashed and veges. Done medium rare, pricey, but good. Bette got the Pomodoro tomato/cheese salad (which we split, and Tim brought it out on two plates - nice touch) and the small order of Gnocchetti di Semola al Ragu di Crostacei ($16) for the main course. Mmm. Sara had Braciola di Maiale ($23), a huge pork chop on the bone. Nice. She had a heck of a doggy bag (for her dad). Tim answered some questions about Grappa I had from San Francisco, and let me sample one.

For dessert we had coffees and a Sundae di Gelato ($7), which was vanilla bean gelato and caramel sauce. Simple but wonderful.

Tim got a great tip, sitting at the bar was more fun than a table, and I could not think of one thing wrong. Great place, and worth the trip. Highly recommended.

Rosebud Drafthouse 6823 W. North Ave Wauwatosa, WI 414.607.9446
Wauwatosa Chancery 7615 West State Street Wauwatosa, WI 414.453.2300
Bartolotta Ristorante 7616 West State Street Wauwatosa, WI 53213 414.771.7910

JavaOne is the big Java technology show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. FSC sent me there with two guys from work, John and Joe to scope things out. We caught a limo from work at 9:30A and had an uneventful ride to SF. A gentleman and his (adopted??) son were next to me in the aisle seats, and the 2-year-old boy was fun. He crawled, pulled everything out of the seat pockets, fell asleep on me a couple times, and was a doll. His big sister in the row ahead would poke her head up occasionally to say hi to Daddy.

We arrived about 3:00, cabbed in, chatting with the driver, and checked in at the InterContinental Hotel. Nice place. Expensive. Rooms with the discounted rate were $260/nite. It is very close to the Moscone Center (a short 5 minute walk down Howard St.) The good thing about staying here is we just stayed at the Buckhead IC — so I knew where to go for boarding passes, and a few other details. The bad thing — a draft beer is $10.

I was in 819, a great room just above the fitness center balcony. Big windows, lots of light. At night too, but there are sheet and dark drapes. I kind of like the light at night — you feel like you are in a big city.

We hopped the F train, an old-time electric light rail cars to Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 47 to Scoma’s, which both George at the office and the concierge recommended. I like to eat at places George recommends in case we get grief for prices on the expense account.

Yum. We had some local brews to start off at the bar while we were waiting, and the personable bartender let John try a sample of one before buying. I had the Dunkle Weiss.

We sat, and waited a while for the waitress to show up. It was just starting to get busy.

Calamari A
ppetizer $15
PETRALE DORE $29
Prawn Annuzzi $28
I had the Seared Ahi ($31) which was nicely rare and very good, with wasabi and a nice vegetable.