Time Has Been Going By So Fast

Quick notes from Kyle prior to Labor Day Weekend -- random thoughts on random things and the last 10 or so bars we've hit up.

* With the Cubs out of town on Saturday we see it as a good time to try wrapping up as much of Wrigleyville as possible. The Illini will be on at 2:30 -- give us a shout if you want to hang.

*I don't drink coffee. I've always felt the need for caffeination in the morning is a sign of weakness (just like feelings). Is it strange that due to my enjoyment of dark beers with coffee-inspired flavors I almost want to start exploring the coffee world simply for the taste?

*The Blarney Stone, #116 - one of those bars that seemingly would not survive anywhere else but within the shadows of Wrigley. The overwhelming demand for watering holes in the area creates a supply of mediocrity. At 5:05 on a Saturday, Cubs out of town, there are 3 customers in the bar. Two of them are us.

*Houndstooth, #117 - Baumer joins us for drinks in a Saturday attempt to put LeroyTimPeterChuck as far out of reach of 1st place in the EBONY Friends Rankings as possible. I also run into MC200 teammate Brandon, decked out in his SEC Kentucky Blue. Speaking of Kentucky...a handful of years ago my Aunt got married in the bluegrass state (happy recent anniversary!). The original plan was to have my Uncle (her brother) perform the ceremony, giving our entire family the chance to get my Grandmother a shirt that would read "My Son Married My Daughter In Kentucky". My horrified Grandmother put a stop to that.

*Rebel, #118 - Not a bad bar at all. Good playlist too: 99 Problems, Social Distortion, Warren Zevon, White Stripes, The Darkness...well okay, time to go. Guess you can't winn 'em all.

*Stretch, #119 - The tables we occupy are labeled as "Reserved for Kelly @ 9pm".
"Kelly must be a special girl." - Kyle
"Kelly is probably a 250 lb dude." - Internet Celebrity Baumer
This place looks like the inside of the Pony Inn, but with 200% more Wrigleyville.

*Merkle's, #120 - This is an Iowa bar, it's pretty crowded, but with a good mix of drinkers. We get free sample shots of a very very terrible whiskey. Rick compares it to waiting 10 minutes for 3 beers earlier in the day and declares, "Houndstooth is the worst bar I've ever been to." It's September of 2009, we are 120 bars into our tour for the year, we've been to roughly 30 bars together outside of our radius this year, and I've probably been to another 50 bars with Rick prior to this mission. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I've heard Rick declare "random bar is the worst bar he's ever been to," oh, probably 46 times.

*Moxie, #121 - It's quiet in Moxie, we own this place for now. Somehow we've crafted a haphazard afternoon/evening bar crawl with a perfect mix of crowded bars followed by not-crowded bars. The Rogue Mocha Porter would not be my first choice, especially at the 6th bar of the day, but, you know, see bullet point number 2 in this entry.

*Wild Hare, #122 - We just beat the cutoff before they start charging the cover. Friends would arrive later and say the $12 was well worth it. Good times dancing to reggae (hardly ever my musical genre of preference) and drinking red stripes. I have scribbled on the last page of my notebook, "BEST W-VILLE BAR THIS ~~illegible~~."

*Bar Louie, #123 - or "Bar Louis" as Rick has apparently begun calling it, is somehow our 8th stop on the evening. Rick and I were guilty of over-training in college as runners, and it's safe to say we continue this idea and extended ourselves a little further than necessary with a stop at Bar Louis.

*I purchased a new notebook for EBONY this week having filled up the last one. Many notes were jotted down that did not make the bar. They'll be secrets for a long time. One day, generations from now, the empire I have built will open the centerpiece of the Kmac Museum to display my never-before-seen collected writings. Advance admission tickets can be purchased, admission anytime upon opening of the Museum, for the non-inflation adjusted price of $25. Please pay me in cash before our board of trustees raises the cost!

*Of note, in relation to the last bullet - My handwriting resembles that of a serial killer (namely John Doe from Se7en). A thousand journals penned by my hand would be somewhat alarming to witness. 999 to go.

*Tavish, #124 - this is my second visit to Tavish. 4 years earlier, the last one left me empty with disappointing food and...well, that's all i remember. This time around, having greatly expanded my pub horizons, I recognize Tavish was reviewed unfairly the first time. Were I more of a local to the Wrightwood/Wayne intersection I would kill many an hour sidled up at this bar.

*Four Shadows, #125 - One of the few bars almost a full mile away from our apartment, nothing else is nearby. Glad to get this one out of the way.

*4 months left to go, roughly 75 bars remaining. Time has been going by so fast, all the things we've been waiting for have already passed and gone (this isn't even the right Jonathan Richman song I'm linking to, but you should go watch this one anyway). Our tour of duty has been eye-opening, and we still have much left to accomplish. As has been mentioned in these parts several times before - the task often seems cumbersome, and the steel bear trap of a mind I had when recollecting the specifics of each and every bar visit has now become a dull and ineffective mousetrap. Walking down Lincoln Avenue I have trouble recalling which ones I've visited and which ones I haven't. Either too many days, too many bars, too many beers, or a combination of the three. Perhaps the crispness of the changing season will invigorate our resolve, reigniting the torch of discovery. Hell, everyone is a little lazy in the summertime. One thing is for certain, my individual Retail Leak scores have never been lower. Support your local shops & restaurants. The merchants in your neighborhood are the ones that put value back into your community. See you at the taps.