Day 43 (Monday, July 24)

Charlie got a new kind of cool lens in the mail. Something calls a Lens Baby. I've never heard of it, but it takes some pretty cool photos. The photo below was taken by Charlie as he played w/ his new toy.

© The Associated Press

Today was nice to get back into the flow of things. The weekend was amazing and I am glad I was able to enjoy a relaxing weekend while I forgot about the internet and my cell phone for two days.

© The Associated Press

It was time to get to work, though. The first thing I did was go to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce where a bunch of pro Wal-Mart business men had a news conference in regards to the big box ordinance that City Council will be voting on this week.

© The Associated Press

The news conference wasn't much fun to shoot because it was just a bunch of business men and w/omyn standing in front of the mic. On my way back to the office, I called and checked in w/ editor Bob Graves, the way I normally do for any assignment. That's when he told me that there was something going at City Hall.

I got to City Hall and there wasn't much to shoot there. Mayor Richard M. Daley was an hour late to the conference. But in the meantime, some people from the ACORN, a local union, showed up to show their support for the big box ordinance. Of course that made a better photo than the one during the news conference. Especially since I was able to get creative and shoot through the door at the mayor's office.

Tonight I was able to spend some time w/ some old friends.

Jaclyn (left) and Ryan (right) are my two former coworkers at the Sundial Newspaper at CSUN. We worked on the newspaper during the spring of 2005. Jaclyn was a news editor and Ryan was the opinion editor while I was handing the photo editor duties. Today Jaclyn and her boyfriend Jeremy flew into town for a vacation. Jaclyn is now working in Arkansas and after a year, she recently got promoted to a higher beat. Ryan, who lives here in Chicago, is currently looking for a journalism job after taking a stab at being press official for a political figure.

All of us, including Ryan's friend Theresa, went to Miller's Pub on Wabash. We had dinner there and talked about the good old days at the Sundial. We sure miss that place. But we never would have thought that the three of us would meet for dinner in Chicago some day.

Jaclyn and Jeremy met while in Arkansas and they seem to be perfect for each other. It was nice to meet Jeremy, even though he's a sooners' fan. Boooooooo! I had to represent Texas status. Ha!

Of course I had to get a photo of Ryan "El Gran Jefe" (the Big Chief) as he was called during his semester as Editor In Chief during the fall of 2005.

Needless to say, it was good to see some old faces. I was beginning to worry I'd never see an old face ever again.

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