THE RETURN OF BALACLAVA MAN

Yesterday, the temperature in Chicago was in the mid twenties. On Friday I had let my streak of consecutive days taking some kind of walk lapse. On Saturday, I had the choice of starting a new streak. Two consecutive days of not walking or one consecutive day of walking. I chose the second. With the temperatures in the mid twenties, it was time for the return of balaclava man.

Standing in from of this giant threee story high mural, I found myself singing Bicycle Race by Queen.

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Your Food Diary For:

Saturday, December 9, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Grits	400	88	6	8	1,240	4
Egg - Poached Egg, 4	300	2	20	25	629	1
Bread - Whole-wheat, toasted	200	37	3	8	427	16
	900	127	29	41	2,296	21
L U N C H
Meatballs, 10 meatballs	540	12	40	32	1,220	4
	540	12	40	32	1,220	4
D I N N E R
Plain Kaiser Roll, 3	450	84	6	18	840	3
Sensational Seafood Salad	380	18	28	18	960	6
	830	102	34	36	1,800	9
Totals	2,270	241	103	109	5,316	34
Your Daily Goal	3,675	459	122	184	2,300	137
Remaining	1,405	218	19	75	-3,016	103
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 1,745 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 213.7 lbs in 5 weeks.




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I don't quite understand the fascination with this Mexican Artist from the 1950's, Frida Kahlo.  I sell fabric today, that uses her image and it is very popular. I found this mural painted on the side of a building on Milwaukee Avenue.

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CAMINO AL PARADISO

One day after turning sixty, I found myself where I have been far too often in recent years - subjected to oral surgery to correct something about my gums. This time it was a deep planing, It was not the most fun way to start my new life in the sixties. At least I made the most of it by walking to my appointment and walking back home after my appointment.

I briefly met the artist who was putting the finishing touches on this mural. His name is Josue. He told me that this mural is called: CAMINO AL PARADISO (Roads to Paradise)

You won't catch me kneeling anywhere near this flag. 

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CHESHIRE CAT

Something that I like to do when walking in Chicago, is to visit new neighborhoods and go down new side streets that I have never seen before. Yesterday's discovery, was not found on some obscure side street, but right on Milwaukee Avenue on the south side of a seven story building. When I spotted this giant cheshire cat, I wondered how I had failed to miss it before. It turns out, this mural is new and was only completed earlier this month.

from dnainfo.com
By Alisa Hauser | September 6, 2017 4:32pm | Updated on September 11, 2017 9:47am.

NOBLE SQUARE — A giant and mischievous Cheshire cat watching over the street — courtesy of New York City-based street artist Jerkface, known for his imaginative interpretations of pop culture iconography — has brought a burst of color and nostalgia to Milwaukee Avenue in Noble Square. Work on the mural at Lewis Towers, a vintage apartment building at 1166 N. Milwaukee Ave., kicked off Aug. 31, continued through the Labor Day weekend and wrapped up Friday. Jasmine Petersen, a Chicago muralist and artist, assisted Jerkface with the mural along the side of the seven-story vintage apartment building, facing southbound traffic on Milwaukee Avenue. David Ruttenberg, a partner with Marc Realty, which owns Lewis Towers and commissioned the mural, said, "Jerkface's work is bright and energetic. The nostalgia factor is always fun, and this composition is memorable to so many age groups. The large scale makes this larger than life and really brightens up this corner of the city." Ruttenberg said his son Solomon and daughter Sasha have loved seeing the mural being painted over the last few days, watching the ongoing work while camped out in the parking lot next to the building. "Murals have the power to uplift a city. They bring vibrancy and movement to bleak and mundane spaces. If one can cross color on their way to work, the bus, or just simply on their way through the city — it does something to them. Color affects one's psyche. It alters one's mood and changes their day. Urban art can be used as a powerful tool to enhance life. Art isn't just meant to be for museums, galleries and high classes. Art is for everyone, and should be enjoyed by everyone," Ruttenberg said. Petersen said the Cheshire cat, inspired by the cat in "Alice in Wonderland," was selected before she and Jerkface knew that there was a veterinary office, Wicker Park Veterinary, on the ground floor of Lewis Towers. "It worked out really well a vet was here," Petersen said.

Jerkface is one of the most readily identifiable artists in the street art community..

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Your Food Diary For:

Friday, September 15, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Quaker Oats instant grits - Instant Grits	400	88	6	8	1,240	0
	400	88	6	8	1,240	0
L U N C H
Libby's - Sweet Peas	245	42	2	14	1,050	21
Read - 3 Bean Salad	300	65	0	5	1,500	40
	545	107	2	19	2,550	61
D I N N E R
Mariano's - Spicy Salmon Maki	400	44	18	17	317	0
	400	44	18	17	317	0
S N A C K S
Yogurt Almonds	300	30	19	5	27	26
	300	30	19	5	27	26
Totals	1,645	269	45	49	4,134	87
Your Daily Goal	3,679	460	122	184	2,300	138
Remaining	2,034	191	77	135	-1,834	51
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 1,749 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 222.5 lbs in 5 weeks     

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SATURDAY WEIGH-IN
This week my weight dropped 2.5 lbs. As long as I keep reminding myself that this is not a race, I think that I am definitely on course. 

weight 253.3 lbs

My weight during its most recent peak on August 26 just three weeks ago was 263.3 lbs. 

I can do two things now. I can always remind myself that on December 24, 2014 I weighed 309 lbs. And since that 'balloonistic' day, I have shed 55.7 lbs.

We all know that at this time, that is a rather ambiguous statistic as I had lost so much more weight than that. What I will do is take some pride in my more contemporaneous accomplishment of dropping 10 pounds in the last three weeks. 



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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

CAMPBELL'S MANHATTAN CLAM CHOWDER

My wife has discovered for me my new favorite soup: Campbell's Manhattan Clam Chowder.   One full can will taste great and it is only 150 calories.   Why didn't I discover this product earlier?  It appears that in the Chicago area, it is not widely available.   It is carried in a couple of stores - but one has to know where to look.

My 'old' favorite soup was New England Clam Chowder.  New England Clam Chowder is the creamy dairy based high calorie soup which is a poor choice for someone watching  calories.  Manhattan Clam Chowder is broth based and tastes delicious and it is low calorie.   Doesn't this can look like a work of art?

As you might know, I am asking that because 1960's artist, Andy Warhol, surely is famous for among other things, turning Campbell's Soup Cans into art.

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 Saturday MENU

breakfast   oatmeal,  WASA LIGHT RYE CRISPBREAD                570 calories
lunch         organic baby spinach, hearts of palm, apple, crispbread  308 calories  
dinner        light rye crispbread, pink lady apple                                702 calories
SNACK    Korean BBQ Seaweed Chips, Toasted Coconut Chips     255 calories

TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED 1835 CALORIES                                           

calories burned

elliptical machine 92 minutes, manual, level 20              2243 calories

CALORIES BURNED 2170 CALORIES

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Saturday net calories NEGATIVE 335 calories

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Andy Warhol photographed in front of Campbell's Soup Cans

David Bowie released a song entitled Andy Warhol released in 1971.

"Andy Warhol" (by David Bowie)

Like to take a cement fix

Be a standing cinema

Dress my friends up 

just for show

See them as they really are

Put a peephole in my brain

Two New Pence to have a go

I'd like to be a gallery

Put you all inside my show

Andy Warhol looks a scream

Hang him on my wall

Andy Warhol, Silver Screen

Can't tell them apart at all

Andy walking, Andy tired

Andy take a little snooze

Tie him up when he's fast asleep

Send him on a pleasant cruise

When he wakes up on the sea

Be sure to think of me and you

He'll think about paint 

and he'll think about glue

What a jolly boring thing to do

from wikipedia:

"Andy Warhol" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory. It is an acoustic song about one of Bowie's greatest inspirations, the American pop artist Andy Warhol. The song starts with some studio chat where Bowie explains to producer Ken Scott, who has just been heard to mispronounce Warhol's name when introducing the take, the right way to say it. Scott solemnly reintroduces the take with the correct pronunciation. There follows several seconds of silence before Bowie asks if the tape is rolling. Upon realising they are indeed recording, Bowie bursts into laughter and begins playing. The song is memorable for its distinctive, flamenco-sounding opening riff on the acoustic guitar that continues through the song.

some quotes from Andy Warhol
(I discovered while researching today's blog post - that Andy Warhol had genuine wisdom.)

“When people are ready to, they change. They never do it before then, and sometimes they die before they get around to it. You can't make them change if they don't want to, just like when they do want to, you can't stop them.” 
― Andy Warhol, Andy Warhol in His Own Words

“Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years when they could just say, So what. That's one of my favorite things to say. So what.” 
― Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

“Art is what you can get away with.” 
― Andy Warhol

“An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have.” 
― Andy Warhol, Andy Warhol, Thirty Are Better Than One

“I'm not afraid to die; I just don't want to be there when it happens” 
― Andy Warhol

and finally....the most famous quote of all....the one that everybody kinda knows....

“In the future, everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.” 
― Andy Warhol

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VINTAGE CAMPBELL'S SOUP PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS

CAN YOU IMAGINE A SOUP COMPANY RUNNING AN AD LIKE  THIS IN 2015?

I am thinking that the 'catchy title' of this advertisement wouldn't bee too successful today


INFLATION THROUGH ADVERTISING

AND LASTLY, WHILE ON THE SUBJECT OF VINTAGE ADVERTISEMENTS THAT MIGHT SEEM A BIT 'DATED'  TODAY....

WOULD YOU BUY A COMPUTER RECOMMENDED BY THIS MAN?

The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A was an early home computer, released in June 1981, originally at a price of US$525.

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Happy Birthday, Jennifer
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