ROOSEVELT ROAD BRIDGE

Lately while crossing the Roosevelt Road Bridge I passed some sculptures which I could not identify or discern their reason for being.  Some googling solved that problem.  

Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus & Mastodon refer to the Field Museum

The Dolphins refer to the Shedd Aquarium

The books refer to the UIC Library

Celestial navigation instruments refer to the Adler Planetarium

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The sculptures are not particularly big.

It might be time to shave...

My daily walk was extended to 16 miles yesterday.  The weather was cooperative.  Although it was cold, I wore enough layers.

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Your Food Diary For:

Sunday, November 29, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Roundy's - No Salt Added Sweet Peas - 1 3/4 cup	210	35	2	14	53	18
Toasted O's, 4 cup	440	88	8	16	640	4
Michigan Apples - red delicious apple, 2 large	260	68	0	2	0	50
	910	191	10	32	693	72
L U N C H
Home Made - Indian Cauliflower Curry, 1 cup	128	13	4	3	202	3
Generic - Whitefish, Lightly Blackened, 6 z filet	183	0	2	40	1,734	0
	311	13	6	43	1,936	3
D I N N E R
WHOLE FOODS 8739 - SUN DRIED FIGS, 80 g (approx 4 figs)	260	84	0	2	0	56
WHOLE FOODS 8497 - CHERRY VANILLA GRANOLA, 68.75 g (3/4 cup)	300	50	9	6	75	19
Chicken Tortilla Soup, 2 cup	300	46	7	14	1,280	6
	860	180	16	22	1,355	81
S N A C K S
WHOLE FOODS - YOGURT PRETZELS, 40 g (approx 8 pcs)	190	28	0	2	180	19
WHOLE FOODS 5536 - YOGURT ALMONDS, 40 g (approx 12 pcs)	220	22	14	4	20	19
Malt O Meal - Honey Nut Scooters, 60 g	240	48	3	6	420	18
	650	98	17	12	620	56
Totals	2,731	482	48	109	4,603	211
Your Daily Goal	4,829	603	161	242	2,300	181
Remaining	2,098	121	112	132	-2,303	-29
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 2,899 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	216	3,040
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-141
Daily Total / Goal	217 / 30	2,899 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	1569 / 210	23,090 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 2731 calories

total calories burned (16 mile walk) 3040 calories

total net calories 309 caloric deficit

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fitbit day 88

35672 steps

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ten mile walking streak reached 21 days.

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by Blair Kamin, Tribune Architecture Critic, Aug 6, 1995.  (excerpts)

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"The most ambitious of the neighborhood projects has produced a new, but entirely old-looking, bridge where Roosevelt Road stretches over the Dearborn Park neighborhood as well as Metra and Amtrak railroad tracks on the Near South Side.

More than 1,500 feet long and decorated with obelisks and sculptures that represent nearby institutions (dolphins for the Shedd Aquarium, books for the University of Illinois at Chicago), the span reminds us how far we've come from the dogma of the modern movement, which likened ornament to a crime.

But their most intriguing project is the $42 million Roosevelt Road bridge. It leads to Daley's new neighborhood, Central Station, and replaced a portion of a bridge constructed in the late 1920s when it was completed earlier this year.

The bridge is an aesthetic flashpoint because of its abundant use of classicism, which would have been unthinkable when architects were under the sway of the modern movement four decades ago.

There are obelisks of three sizes, towering fluted lampposts, finely detailed planters and retaining walls, handrails that incorporate a miniature version of the Chicago "Y" found at Congress Plaza, and sculptures by Miklos Simon, which are (among other things) likenesses of books, dolphins and celestial navigation instruments.

The design, by DLK's Diane Legge Kemp, raises questions about the propriety of employing such forms today. Some in the avant-garde point to their use as a failure of architectural nerve and a tacit admission that American culture has lost its faith in the future.

It is altogether proper, then, that the bridge has unusual features such as traffic lanes reserved for bicycles and that its decorative elements break down its massiveness in a way that gives it a human scale compatible with Dearborn Park.

The many obelisks, which suggest the profile of a suspension bridge, create pleasing rhythms that appeal to both the driver and the pedestrian. And the sculptures emphasize the bridge's link between the University of Illinois and three lakefront cultural institutions that eventually will be part of a museum campus uninterrupted by Lake Shore Drive--the Shedd Aquarium (dolphins), the Field Museum (prehistoric creatures including mastodons) and the Adler Planetarium (a celestial navigation instrument known as an astrolabe)."

It is altogether proper, then, that the bridge has unusual features such as traffic lanes reserved for bicycles and that its decorative elements break down its massiveness in a way that gives it a human scale compatible with Dearborn Park.

The many obelisks, which suggest the profile of a suspension bridge, create pleasing rhythms that appeal to both the driver and the pedestrian. And the sculptures emphasize the bridge's link between the University of Illinois and three lakefront cultural institutions that eventually will be part of a museum campus uninterrupted by Lake Shore Drive--the Shedd Aquarium (dolphins), the Field Museum (prehistoric creatures including mastodons) and the Adler Planetarium (a celestial navigation instrument known as an astrolabe)."

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Roosevelt Road Bridge

THAT'S BRISK, BABY!®

Brisk is well known for its high-profile “That’s Brisk, baby!” campaigns. The J. Walter Thompson ad agency first launched the campaign in 1996, featuring pop-culture icons in claymation, and was revived in 2010 by creative agency Mekanism. The advertisements highlight exhausted celebrities who are dramatically reinvigorated by drinking Brisk. Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, Bruce Lee, Danny DeVito, Bruce Willis, Ozzy Osbourne, Sylvester Stallone, Danny Trejo and Eminem have all been featured in Brisk spots.

So, you are of course, wondering why am I talking about BRISK today?  I have two applications on my phone that communicate with each other: Map My Walk and My Fitness Pal.  When I record a workout on Map My Walk, it automatically records the workout with a short description onto My Fitness Pal.  My TEN MILE walks are recorded like this:

EXERCISE
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace

Yesterday afternoon in between the time that my daughter checked in for a Swim Meet and the time that she did actually swim in a race, I had about a hour or so.  I decided to take a quick walk around the neighborhood, and as I knew that my walk was going to be a bit shorter, I walked a bit faster than normal.  In fact, I did manage to log three miles in just under 36 minutes.  The application does not bother to label this walk at a brisk pace.  It simply logged this walk like this:

EXERCISE
Walking, 5.0 mph
(if 4.5 mph is very, very brisk - 5 mph is should have been 'brisker!' - Why didn't this faster pace rate an adjective?)

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The reason that I was able to take a THREE MILE walk in the afternoon was that I had already logged my TEN MILE walk in the early morning.  Very early morning.  I knew that I would not have a lot of free time during the day, so at the stroke of midnight on Saturday, I departed from my home for my daily 10 mile walk.  I returned home around 2:15AM,  took a quick shower, took a quick sleep and I was ready to start my day on Saturday morning.  It is extra fun to wake up in the morning and already have 15000 steps 'in the bank.'

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Your Food Diary For:

Saturday, November 28, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
John McCann Steel Cut - Oat Meal, 1 cup	600	108	0	16	0	0
Starbucks - Reduced-fat Turkey Bacon Sandwich, 1 sandwich	230	28	6	13	560	3
	830	136	6	29	560	3
L U N C H
Roundy's - Center Cut Bacon, 6 Slices	140	0	8	14	440	0
Eggs - Grade A Large, 2 egg (50g)	140	0	10	12	140	0
Nice! - Toasted O's, 1 cup	120	23	1	4	160	2
	400	23	19	30	740	2
D I N N E R
Roundy's - Center Cut Bacon, 6 Slices	140	0	8	14	440	0
Quaker - Rice Cake - Buttered Popcorn, 14 cake (9g)	490	112	0	14	630	0
	630	112	8	28	1,070	0
S N A C K S
Quaker - Rice Cake - Buttered Popcorn, 14 cake (9g)	490	112	0	14	630	0
Campbell's - Grilled Chicken and Sausage Combo Soup, 2 cup	280	38	8	14	1,560	0
Heb Organics - Toasted O's, 3 cup	330	66	6	12	480	3
	1,100	216	14	40	2,670	3
Totals	2,960	487	47	127	5,040	8
Your Daily Goal	5,710	714	190	286	2,300	214
Remaining	2,750	227	143	159	-2,740	206
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 3,780 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	132	1,942
Walking, 5.0 mph	36	663
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	27	390
Walking, 3.5 mph, brisk pace	106	940
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-155
Daily Total / Goal	302 / 30	3,780 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	1353 / 210	20,191 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 2960 calories

total calories burned (10, 3, & 2 mile walks) 2995 calories

total net calories 5 caloric deficit

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fitbit day 87

48479 steps

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ten mile walking streak reached 20 days.

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MARC BY MARC JACOBS

Somewhere within the past decade, the term, BLACK FRIDAY, became a marketing sensation.  When I was younger, Black Friday, simply meant the busy shopping day on the Friday after Thanksgiving that retailers finally went 'into the black' and starting actually booking profits for the year.  Nowadays, whether that it still true or not, is no longer the point.  BLACK FRIDAY, today, means that retail stores are making extraordinary efforts to earn the dollars of consumers.  Some stores offer impossibly low prices on very limited numbers of items, other stores have markdowns on the entire inventory of their store and still more stores open for business on Friday morning at ridiculous times like 5:00AM.  The latest trend has been for BLACK FRIDAY to start on Thursday.  More and more stores are opening sometime on Thanksgiving Day and then staying open all through the night until closing time on Friday.  In Chicago, we took notice of this trend at Banana Republic, The Gap and Macy*s. Our family had some minor shopping to do for the final preparation of our daughters' Bat-Mitzvah next weekend.  Me?  I am always looking for an 'excuse' to walk downtown and build up my 'steps.'  My family walked along Michigan Avenue, we took a detour to check out Millenium Park and then we finally headed to the legendary Macy*s store on State Street. (This location was the original home of Marshall Fields flagship store)  Before a dress and shoes were purchased for my wife and daughter - we stopped by the Marc Jacobs section where his handbags were for sale. Our shopping expedition was complete by 1:30AM early Friday morning, and since it was raining, we relented and took the subway home.  

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Yesterday morning, I awoke around 7:30 for my 10 mile walk.  Although when I started it wasn't exactly raining, it wasn't exactly not raining either.  The gusty winds were quite evident and the temperature had dropped around 20° from the relative warmth of the night before.  It wasn't too long during my walk that it started to unambiguously rain.  The lakefront looked much more like an ocean than a lake.  I was walking on a paved path close to the waters, and a wave surprised me and I found myself standing in 2" of cold lake water.  This made the last 1.5 miles of my walk just a bit more uncomfortable.  (note to self: when the Lake Michigan waters are so evidently choppy - stay away)

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Your Food Diary For:

Friday, November 27, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Quakers - Rice Cake Lightly Salted, 14 Cake (9g)	490	98	0	14	210	0
michiganApples - red delicious apple, 1 large	130	34	0	1	0	25
Kind Healthy Grains - Dark Chocolate Chunk, 1 bar (35g)	150	23	5	2	70	8
	770	155	5	17	280	33
L U N C H
Libby's - Whole Kernel Sweet Corn, 1 3/4 cup cooked	210	32	5	7	700	25
Campbell's - Home Style Mexican-Style Chicken Tortilla Soup, 2 cup	260	40	4	14	1,700	8
	470	72	9	21	2,400	33
D I N N E R
Bobak's - Polish Sausage, 1 link	230	1	21	10	0	0
Wegmans - Herb Stuffing, 4 oz	160	20	7	4	360	2
Broccoli - Broccoli, 1 cup	60	6	1	5	49	0
	450	27	29	19	409	2
S N A C K S
WHOLE FOODS 7700 - ORGANIC DATE PIECES w/OAT FLOWER, 80 g (2 TBSP)	240	60	0	2	20	44
WHOLE FOODS 8497 - CHERRY VANILLA GRANOLA, 77.0 g (3/4 cup)	336	56	10	7	84	21
	576	116	10	9	104	65
Totals	2,266	370	53	66	3,193	132
Your Daily Goal	5,043	630	168	253	2,300	189
Remaining	2,777	260	115	186	-892	56
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 3,113 extra calories from exercise today

Your Exercise Diary for:

Friday, November 27, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	132	1,968
Walking, 3.5 mph, brisk pace	123	1,091
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	54
Daily Total / Goal	256 / 30	3,113 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	1050 / 210	16,306 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 2266 calories
total calories burned (10 mile walk) 1968 calories
total net calories 298 calories

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fitbit day 86

40912 steps

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ten mile walking streak reached 19 days.

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214.8 lbs

I weigh 214.8 lbs.

I lost 2.2 lb this week

I have lost 94.2 lbs in 339 days. Today begins Day 340.

I will always be at the beginning of a journey that never ends.

I weigh 214.8 lbs (339 days ago I weighed 309 lbs)

I have lost 30.48% of my weight since Dec 24.

I have a BMI, body mass index of 28.73

I had a 42.0 BMI on Dec 24 just 339 days ago (Class III obesity)

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My daughter does not share my opinion that this is a clever photograph.

TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING TWENTY

Yesterday, was the beginning of a new tradition.  I set out in the morning, long before my family was stirring about, to walk 20 miles.  The weather was much more cooperative at the beginning than at the end of this particular urban hike.  The weather was a very comfortable 53°F when I started and the forecast for rain was for much later in the afternoon.  The forecast for rain was not quite so accurate.  The last 5 miles of my walk was largely in a pouring rain.  Nevertheless, I perservered and continued on until I had logged my 20th mile.  Whether I will be able to do this next Thanksgiving (a 20 mile walk does carve out a bit of time) or not - I do not know.  It seems like a good tradition to shoot for.  Next year I will let you know how the 2nd Annual Traditional Thanksgiving Twenty goes....

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As part of my 20 mile urban hike - I explored parts of Grant Park for the first time

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For the past few days, I have continued to attempt to 'perfect' this type of 'action' photograph.  By standing very near the edge, it does become much more obvious that I am 'in the air.'  On this grey day, my bright orange shirt is the only color in the picture.  It should be fairly obvious now that the premise of the 1992 film, White Men Can't Jump, is certainly not disproved by my prowess defying gravity!

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Your Food Diary For:

Thursday, November 26, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Quakers - Rice Cake Lightly Salted, 14 Cake (9g)	490	98	0	14	210	0
Michigan Apples - red delicious apple, 3 large	390	102	0	3	0	75
	880	200	0	17	210	75
L U N C H
Sweet Baby Ray's - Original Beef Jerky, 6 oz	540	36	6	66	2,880	36
Nature Valley 4 Crunchy Granola Bar Oats and Honey	380	58	14	6	360	22
	920	94	20	72	3,240	58
D I N N E R
Brisket - Brisket, 8 oz	352	0	17	48	176	0
Potatoes, red, flesh and skin, baked, 1 potato large	266	59	0	7	36	4
Roundy's - Sweet Peas - Canned, 1 cup	120	20	1	8	30	10
	738	79	18	63	242	14
S N A C K S
General Mills 2 Nature Valley - Oats 'n Honey	190	29	6	4	160	12
Kind Healthy Grains 2 Dark Chocolate Chunk	300	46	10	4	140	16
	490	75	16	8	300	28
Totals	3,028	448	54	160	3,992	175
Your Daily Goal	5,516	689	184	276	2,300	206
Remaining	2,488	241	129	116	-1,691	30
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 3,586 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	260	3,978
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-392
Daily Total / Goal	261 / 30	3,586 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	794 / 210	12,476 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 3028 calories
total calories burned (20 mile walk) 3978 calories
total net calories 950 caloric deficit

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fitbit day 85

51605 steps

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ten mile walking streak reached 18 days.

Around mile 5, the rain was still two hours away...

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and for no particular reason, here is some very bad advice from The Most Interesting Man in the World....