Via Chicago

I'm off to Chi-city in the AM, yo.

That's right, a bit of a homecoming for Cleveland Bachelor.

I'm heading out tomorrow, right after a last minute haircut, to attend the most happening academic conference you could possibly imagine.

Yeah, a little bit of sarcasm there.

But not much. I dig my annual spring visit to The Chi, more than anything else because my friend Stephen and I always find such fun and interesting things to do.

We both are a little broke (no surprise there) these days, but there is still some excitement in store. We're both staying at the Hotel Sax, along with a couple different friends of ours from our grad school institution, which is awesome. I haven't been there since it changed over from being the House of Blues Hotel, but it was swanky then and by all accounts has been upgraded since, so it should be cool. Or "tight" as the kids say. Or rather said. About 7.5 years ago.

We don't have anything exciting booked, in terms of restaurants or concerts or what have you, which is sorta unusual, but we are planning on checking out the Obama for President HQ, and maybe even catching an early AM church service at Jeremiah Wright's old institution. I'm gonna drop down and visit the parentals on Wednesday night, but on Thursday we are supposedly going up to Wicker Park to check out this killer cocktail joint, the Violet Hour, and then grab dinner somewhere cool. Friday we were thinking about checking out the famous Funky Buddha, which means my creaky, talent-less ass is gonna have to game up for hip hop. Saturday we'll probably catch a show at the Metro or the Empty Bottle. And Sunday, after church (ouch ... it hurts to even type that, though I guess it is ok since I'm going for political tourist reasons) and a little actual work on my part, it'll probably be lunch at this interesting Korean/American Soul food joint then hopping on a plane back to the Land of Cleves.

It looks to be an enjoyable time away, if not a little busy. I'll miss you all desperately while I'm away, though I'm not scared to admit that I hope I get better weather than you. Not that I want you guys to suffer, just that I want to be more comfortable. Sorry. I'm just a hater, I suppose.