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.

This is How it Starts...

With 90 minutes to kill and currently flying a mile high somewhere between Chicago and Dallas, I had planned on summing up our dutiful last saturday afternoon/evening visiting another 8 bars. Without access to the internet and our trusty notebook, I find myself dumbfounded on not only what establishments we visited, but also some specifics of what happened between 5PM and 2AM. I do know we visited 8 bars in Wrigelyville, but for the life of me I can only come up with the names of six. I think I am starting to see the negative side effects of this mission. I am constantly finding myself second guessing which bars we have already visited and now I can't even remember what happened a mere 4 days ago.

But the afternoon started something like this. We killed many morning/afternoon hours watching the USA sprint crew shoot themselves in the foot (again) in the sprint relays, started the first two episodes of Dexter (yet another distraction added to the list), and various errands. With Hall pulling his usual maneuver in ditching Kyle to go see The Hurt Locker we embarked on Wrigleyville. We knew there were still a handful of bars we still haven't graced our presence with, so we figured with the Cubs being out of town that we would adventure down Clark and stop at each one still on the list. First stop, The Blarney Stone, #116. Walking in, there was only one other patron in the bar and he was an 80 year old man with a popped collar sipping on some Jameson. We slowly sipped our two Guinesses and take notes on the aesthetics. The only coming to my mind now were the two pictures above the bar: JFK and The Pope. Not a bad company to be in I guess. Coincidentally Kyle is wearing his "The Pope is Dope" shirt this evening. I remember back in the 907 days when Kyle bought this shirt and The Pope at the time went on to pass away one week later. We debated if the shirt should now read, "The Pope WAS Dope." Yes, we know, we're going to Hell, but at least all our friends will be there. Half-way thru our meals in a can, Seidler joins us and relives he previous evening in Indianapolis, without saying too much more than I should, I'll just leave the story at that. Finally two other patrons walk in but abruptly leave after learning that this Irish bar doesn't even have Irish Mist to order. Apparently their tastebuds we're on a mission to take down the cheapest and nastiest booze available (a la our PDX adventures a few years back).

We walk back north up Clark, say goodbye to Seidler and say hello to Baumer as the next bar in sight is The Houndstooth Saloon, #117. I already have a strong hatred for this bar and this afternoon doesn't improve that perception. The bar is packed with various SEC alumnus as we split one pitcher between the three of us before immediately leaving. Only tidbit I remember from the HS (horse-shit?) is after hearing some drunk idiot jump on a table and yelling the UK fight song me saying to the group, "we need to get the fuck out of here." Some random dude in front us nodded his head in approval. The next bar we visited is currently blank from my mind, #118 (Editors Note: Rebel). All I can really remember is Baumer ordering a pitcher of 312 and he being disgusted in the cost. I also remember him asking if we are disappointed with the way The Savior has been playing this year and we are immediately taken back in disgust. Kyle's analogy linked Baumers question to that of the Cubs ability to sign Bradley, Fukudome, Miles, Soriano, or well any other Cubs player to such an amazing discount. I remember at this point being very hungry and we proceed across the street to The Spread, #119. Damn good burgers are consumed and the start of the Bears game commences. Once again, without our trusty notebook, my mind is blank on this establishment. Kyle, maybe you can fill in the blanks later this week. Now the next bar I do remember being Merkele's, #120. Aaron joins us and we watch the rest of the Bears game. We debate the proper weight class Baumer should look for in a companion and are taken back at his ceiling. At some point we add some estrogen the crew with the arrival of Annie, Abby and Kelly. I can't remember if they joined us at Merkele's, or at the following bar which also stared with an M, #121 (Editors Note: Moxie). I do remember getting free shots of Jameson somewhere along the line and also enjoying a very yummy and robust Rouge Porter. Eventually Baumers Peoria friend Jeremy and his wife join us and I remember a large portion of the discussion being centered about Big Al's (link would be NSFW). Something tells me many long nights there have shaped the current Baumer we know.

Around midnight Jeremy convinces us to head up the street to The Wild Hare, #122. Not knowing what to expect, we are blown away with where the next 90 minutes takes us. Apparently the Hare is a Jamaican bar with live raggae bands moving our hips. Many Red Stripes (Hooray!) are consumed as we all become three sheets to the wind. Before the roaring of our bellies take over, dancing ensues and an older women on the prowl tries her hardest to bring Kyle back to her lair. Fortunately Kyle had his senses with him and didn't pull a, "I'm going to see where this goes." For the eighth and final bar of the evening we cross Clark over to Bar Louis, #123. Baumer has been raving about the Atomic Fries and we concur after wetting our whistle. The atomic fries and Oberon take my mind completely away from a Fourth Meal and the evening eventually comes to a conclusion at 2AM. Not bad for an impromptu crawl.

The rest of the weekend ends up taking a toll on us even though Sunday included no drinking. Sunday was started by minimal sleep by waking up early to catch the final day of the World Track and Field Champs live from Berlin. The 5K was well worth our lack of sleep in seeing 10 guys tied at the bell lap and catching the eventual battle between Lagat and Bekele the final 50. With Bekele taking the reigning 1500 and 5K champ to school, there is no question Bekele now holds the title of being the GOAT. Great American showings all around this week 3 men and women in the 1500m finals - Lagat and Rowbury claiming medals, Ritz and Rupp in the 10K (watch out Med, your AR is going down at Stanford next spring), Symmonds in the 800, Solinksy and Tegs in the 5K, and Jenny B in the steeple. The other big news from Berlin being the very manly Semenya absolutely dominating the women's 800. The rest of Sunday is spent in the direct sunlight sans lotion at the Sox game. The effects of such are still being felt 2 days later and I look like a lobster and feel completely drained. Sunday concluded with another outstanding epidsode of True Blood. Many questions will need to be resolived around MaryAnn and the rest of Bon Temp in the final two episodes.

Random conversation I've heard at ORD so far:
"and the doctor said he only has another 20 years to live"
"that's not that bad, how old is he?"
"three"
"oh..."

"seriously! i can't believe Barack is bringing Bernake back for another four years, he is the reason the stock market crashed."

"mommy, that is the Spanish flag"
"good job sweetheart" (she was actually pointing to the flag of Argentina.