Riis Park

It's Valentine's Day 2010. I woke up with Hallie minutes before this morning ended, drank a cup of coffee and watched an online video. We started a game of "Go" and then we went. She went to yoga class and I to Riis Park. Heading west on Grand the street starts to bend north once west of Western, go far enough and it intersects Fullerton just a few blocks west of the park. It is sunny out so the rink was fairly crowded, as a friendly CPD worker explained: 'when its sunny everbody want to skate but the ice is no good then.' He was right, parts of the rink surface were mushy and meant to be avoided and the surface in general was more slippery than an ice rink is on a more frigid day. Being a straight shot from Ukrainian Village I noticed a number of Ukrainians at the rink, the elders perhaps being reminded of their mother country (how cold does it get in the Ukraine?). There were also a number of children making the days off from school count and a few teenagers on gushy Valentine's dates. Next to the rink is a modest seating area, where one may find a man making a simple earning off selling cotton candy, and a trailer-like warming house. The atmosphere of the place was pleasent, far enough removed from downtown millionaires to resemble the pulse of west Chicago.

Warren Park

I arrived at Warren Park, conveniently located off of Western at 6600 N, today around four oclock. The park, rink and all, were packed with parents and their children in the middle of wholesome after-school outings. I laced up my skates in a permanent building right next to the outdoor rink. Out on the crowded ice there was little option to do more than skate at moderate speed counter-clockwise around the rink while occasionally dodging a tumbling toddler or two. I had fun regardless with a good selection of music being broadcast from way of speakers mounted to the building. Just beyond the rink is what appeared to be the largest hill in Chicago, no wonder it was so crowded following the recent snowfall, where kids were mechanically marching up and sledding down the slope. I came here one night last week and got just one picture before my camera battery died.

Midway Plaisance

Both this Tuesday and last Friday, I went to the Midway Plaisance Park ice rink. It is located on the southeast part of the University of Chicago campus in between the eastbound and westbound portions of 59th. The rink is situated in a small ravine that spans a long expanse of the road median. Because of the this it can actually pretty windy on the ice. Next to the rink is a permanent building with skate rentals, bathrooms, and a few tables. There is a staircase leading to an observing deck on the roof of the building. I would imagine that U of C folk go up here to watch intramural hockey games. To the back of the building is the U of C magnet school and other campus buildings. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Obama or Michelle took Sasha and Malia to skate on this rink.

A trip to Madison, WI

This weekend I drove northwest to Madison. I stayed with my friend Robbie for two nights along with his fellow student roommates in a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for someone named Robie. I've stayed at the house a few times and on each occasion I feel very lucky to just freely roam around and observe. This is probably because the work of Frank loyd Wright is intensely studied and highly regarded by some as I learned from a public tour of his studio in Oak Park. On Friday night Robbie held a pie contest so I brought with me a sweet potato pie. The next day we went ice skating on a frozen body of water close to one of the lakes that squishes Madison into place. Skating on a frozen body of water as opposed to an ice rink groomed with a zamboni is different in the ways you may suspect. There are more aberrations than in an ice rink including narrow cracks that traverse long distances, rocks just barely poking above the surface, and rough patches. We brought with us two hockey sticks as well as a home-made puck built from duct tape, cardboard, dead batteries and salt. The puck worked surprisingly well as we had ourselves a good time passing it around. Next to the body of water was a rink where people were playing hockey. I ventured over to the rink if only to scope out whether it was worth asking to join in on the game when one player shouted over an invite. I played for about ten minutes in a 4-on-4 game making a few plays that embarassed as well as a few that surprised myself before everyone called it quits. I walked back over to the body of water and overheard a few of the players talking in Russian as I passed. Robbie and I skated for a bit longer before leaving. On the way to the car we found the parking lot littered with red bulls and "you're welcome" notes left apparently by a red bull promotional team. I grabbed a few before we drove home. Back at the house I rested on the couch sipping red bull for several hours before Robbie suggested that we go to a coffee shop. Three cans of red bull and one cup of coffee later I sat in Michealangelo's scribbling on a few sheets of borrowed paper some underlying properties of cubed numbers. I summarized what I found in a powerpoint. I'll work on a way to upload it.

Daley Bicentennial Plaza

Today I went to the ice rink at the Daley Bicentennial Plaza. To prevent ambiguity I should say that the rink is not located at what many call the "Daley Plaza" but rather at the very northern end of Grant Park(east of Michigan and just south of Randolph). This is a(n) (n)ice rink whose best feature is it's location. It feels like the placid stillwater collecting next to the rushing river that is Michigan Ave and westward. By that I mean that the rink is not very crowded; this was my second visit to the rink (but my first time documenting it) and on both occasions between 1 pm and about 2:30 there were never more than ten people out on the ice. This kind of amazed me considering how congested the rest of downtown is, but this fact makes more sense once one notices that the nearby rink along michigan ave in millennium park is perpetually crowded with awkward teenagers et al. Also, the views of the city are spectacular from the rink. Inside the building displaying the title of the park depicted above there are locker rooms next desk where one can rent skates. I also saw in other parts of the building people playing ping pong, a yoga class, and what looked like a child daycare program.

McKinley Park

To get in the habit of blogging i've chose rather arbitrarily to document my experiences at the various ice rinks run by the chicago parks district. A quick google search revealed that there are several in the city open regularly for the public to use. You can read about them here.

After a morning spent at my apartment with my friend Arash, we headed south towards UIC. I dropped Arash there to handle some business and continued further south to McKinley Park(Western and 38ish). On arriving to the park I was offered a leaflet accompanied by the phrase "in case you plan on voting" by a man standing outside a building on the park grounds. It took me a second to realize that his promotion was not completely random but that there was probably some sort of election going on inside the building. I asked him which way the ice rink was and he pointed off into the distance. I walked over to the large outdoor rink arriving sometime around 1 pm, there were four men on the ice skating around holding hockey sticks and one mother pressed against the rink wall with a child either very reluctant or unable to imagine gliding across this slippery, cold surface with these shiny things on her feet. The prospect for me caused a different reaction. Being a novice ice skater, in the moments before I step on the ice I am reminded of childhood when every action was a novel, learning experience. While hastily lacing up my skates a giggly teenage girl asked me if there is anywhere that she has to sign in to skate, I replied that I don't know and that it was my first time there, it was hers as well. Moments later one of the hockey players skated up near us and told us that we were sitting on the step of the "warming room." I was puzzled by the phrase but got the gist of what he was saying and went into the trailer-like structure. Next moment my skates were laced and I gliding around on the ice. The reason that I've taken up ice skating is to try to get into hockey, so when I skated past one of the men with a hockey stick I asked him how often he and the others come together to play at the particular rink. He said that they come out every Wednesday about that time and posited that if I was interested in playing now they may have an extra stick. I complied and after skating over to one of his friends he cam back and said that I could ask inside the warming house for a spare. I headed inside to a back room to interrupt a young man reading a single-bound book that read "Herman Melville: Seven Novels" on the binding. He handed me a stick and the next moment I was out on the ice in a half-rink, 3-on-2 match with the others. We played for about an hour stopping frequently to rest. I did my best to hold my own thanking the others for their patience as it was clear that I was the player on the ice with the least experience. Inside I was smiling amazed at how well the sport holds up to how fun it looks. I plan on going back next Wednesday to play again. Thats all for now, here are some pictures of the rink.