Superman Returns and a wonderful surprise

After work today, we went to see the new Superman movie.

Donna won tickets from the CBS station to see an early screening.

It was actually very good. I thought it was as good or better than any of the recent good comic book movies. Donna didn't think it was quite as good as Batman Begins or Spiderman 2, but still up there. Two thumbs up from us.

When we got home, I found this waiting for me.

Lynne, Sue, Mark, Chris, and Julie had it delivered to congratulate me for finishing my exams. It was a such a nice surprise. Thanks guys! You were all there for me when I was first starting out and stressing and complaining about the stupid endless exams that I'd never finish. You guys are the best!

Wicked at the Oriental Theater

To celebrate the passing of our exams (I passed 5 and JJ passed 8 - he's done!), we went out for a night on the town! For dinner, we went to The Grillroom. It was an okay dinner at a fancily-decorated restaurant complete with hardwood lining everything from the floor to the walls. Then, we were off to see the wizard at the Oriental Theater. Yes, that's right! We went to see Wicked!


It was a great razzling-dazzling show and we highly recommend it!

We passed!

Photo coming soon!

First really hot weekend of summer

After some unusually cool days, we had our first hot and sunny weekend of the summer. Donna and Kishen met up early in the day to work the rust off their tennis games.

Penn #3 coming your way!


The ESPN City Slam tour was in town so we all went down to the beach to catch the action.

This guy tried to match the record of 66 inches he set last year but caught the bar with his knee.


Through the legs a la Vince Carter.


The guy standing there was much taller than Spud Webb, which we saw done at the All-Star game.


Kishen and Donna showing off the loot we caught while in the stands.


Aside from the sunburns, a good day overall!

Visitors from Philly and Shedd Aquarium

Lillian and Mike visited us this weekend from Philly. It's been about 2 years since they last visited. They spent Friday seeing the sights and worked up an appetite so we went to Brazzaz that night for some serious meat eating.

Posing by the lake.


On Saturday night, Donna's work held a party at the Shedd Aquarium. It was a pretty good setup with nice buffet dinner, drinks, martini bar, and even a cigar bar.


The whole aquarium was booked for the party so we were able to get up close and personal with the fishies.

This turtle kept scratching his shell against the yellow coral all night.


Crazy looking sea dragon.


We even saw Patrick Star hanging out.

Intelligentsia Roasting Works adventure

This weekend's adventure starts off at Intelligentsia's Roasting Works tour in a neighbourhood close to the United Centre (Ashland and Lake). The neighbourhood was a bit scary where factories or auto repair shops lined the streets and even parking lots were fenced with barb wire.

As we walked from the Green line, you could hardly notice the entrance to the Roasting Works as it was just this non-descript building with a single steel door and a small tin sign leaning next to it.


The Roasting Works looked like a small production but it turns out they churn out some 10,000 pounds of coffee on Mondays and Tuesdays but production does slow as the week progresses. They have three sizes of roasters to accommodate desired production size.


Coffee is grown in bands just within the Tropics (Central/South America, Africa, Sumatra region). They keep large sacks of fresh coffee bought from various cooperatives and microlots around the world.


Our favourite Intelligentsia coffee is the Tres Santos Colombia which is the best Colombian coffee we've had.

They still have some left.


On our tour today, they roasted a coffee from Rwanda right in front of us. One can only imagine how incredible this coffee story is for a country with such a violent history.

Once the coffee is roasted, it is cooled and bits of stuff like stones are "filtered" out.


Then, it's stored in large gray bins.


The final product (showing various stages of the roasting - from green to dark brown). Every person on the tour got a half pound bag for free!


Once the tour was over, we had a delicious lunch at VTK and headed back to Lakeview. We went to a DIY framing place where we had a great arts-and-crafts afternoon by making our own version of what the Intelligentsia Roasting Works office had up on their walls.


Thanks to the burlap sacks we managed to get from the nice people at the factory, check out our brand new wall art!

Memorial Weekend in Colorado

This past Memorial Weekend, JJ and I went to Denver to visit his brother's family. This time, we made our side trip to Colorado Springs to take in the scenery and do the tourist thing.

The Pikes Peak region around Colorado Springs has some of the most interesting geology; we visited the Garden of the Gods which is a series of (red) rock formations caused by the earth's movement millions of years ago


While there, we managed to get some shots of wildlife with our brand new Sigma 70-300mm lens. At 300mm, it was almost impossible to get a steady or well-focused shot without a tripod but JJ made a great effort!

Big Horn sheep on top of White Rock:


And even a falcon in mid-flight:


From the Garden of the Gods, you can see Pikes Peak which was our next destination. (Click on the picture to see the bigger version!)


At about 8000ft, the view from the Crystal Reservoir.


Apparently, Big Foot lives around here too.


Nearing the top at about 11,000ft, we start seeing snow on the ground. Some crazy dude actually tried to ski down the little patches of snow up in the mountains!


At the top, the air was thin and it was so windy I felt like I was going to be blown away. (Good thing I bought that hoodie the day before at the Castle Rock outlet mall!!)


We had the famous 14,000ft donut at the top for free (think seriously deep fried).


By the time we got up to the top, the mountains far away were clouded with haze and the best shot we got was this. It shows some interesting landscape (it was like Mars up there - all barren and rocks poking out everywhere since it was above the treeline).


It was an amazing weekend with lots of fun and shopping and relaxing and sightseeing and EATING! If you ever get a chance to go to Manitou Springs near Colorado Springs, we highly recommend the Briarhurst Manor. It's a house so you can eat in the Master Bedroom but the food is delicious and you will not be able to resist having a 3-course meal (including the sampler entrees Taste of Colorado and Wild Sampler)! We totally stuffed ourselves! :D