It Matters Who You Know

It really does. On Wednesday, we had our daily jobless persons' meeting. While we were meeting, a group came in from running and among them was Mike Gause, a 6 foot, 5 inch tall hulk of a black man who formerly played basketball on the Ohio State team. Mike, since he set foot in the city, and for obvious reasons, has been inundated with job offers at every turn. He also had a ton of leads, so Captain Zag (our nickname for David ZagRodny, our job coach) suggested that Mike take a group of us around the city and help us find jobs. Mike, being the outstanding and nice guy that he is, agreed to be our Coach for the day.

There were rumors that stores at O'Hare Airport were hiring for the summer, so we took the train all the way out there. The trip took about an hour, even running express for a few stops, which really put a damper on my enthusiasm for the jobs, if there were any. When we got there, we realized we couldn't get into the concourse to check out the actual shops. A security guard directed us to an employment office, which took us about 15 minutes to find. And when we found it, it was closed and we found out we had to apply online. So O'Hare was pretty much a bust, which was a bummer.

Mike and I, along with two other guys, headed back into the city and got off near Michigan Avenue. There's a brand-new Chik-fil-a down off Chicago Ave and the city is really taking to the restaurant. We stopped by to get some food since the other three guys had never had Chik-fil-a. The line was out the door and around the corner to give you an idea of how many people there were. It was nuts, but the service was surprisingly quick.

After we ate, we hit up the adidas store and Best Buy. adidas said they were hiring, but that it would take about two weeks for them to get back to us. By that time, there would only be 5 weeks left in the trip. Best Buy also said they were hiring and needed part-time workers. I got the manager's business card and was told to fill out an app and then follow up in a couple days.

I actually followed up today and got to talk to the hiring manager, Kay. She told me it would take about 3 days for the application to enter the system (I filled mine out Wednesday) and then a couple days for them to call me. I got to talk briefly about what positions I applied for, which I fit best, and why she should hire me. It was really encouraging to finally get talk time with a manager. Hopefully, she'll see that I'll be a hard worker and hiring me for 7 weeks will be worth it. Otherwise, I may just have to get a job in fast-food.

The thought of that makes me cringe.

Spreading the News

First the bad news: I still don't have a job. That's pretty much all I can say about that. At every turn it seems that I am being thwarted in my searching. All my leads are going cold. It is an entirely frustrating process. Through all of it, I've had to hold on to the promise that God has something planned for me. And it's hard, because I keep looking to God to show up and He's not showing up in the ways that I think he should turn up.

Still, I know I'm supposed to be here. After all, the overflow of support that I got from all of you proves to me that this is where God wants me. And perhaps the reason that I have not gotten a job as of yet is the overabundance of funds that I have been given. I have more than enough support to cover my expenses for the summer, while others are in deep need of a job to pay for their time here in the city. And so maybe my purpose here is not to work, but to engage the people and students of Chicago in spiritual conversations.

That's actually what I ended up doing today. I went out with Steve Ng and a few other leaders and students to a beach north of Michigan Avenue to share with the people there. This was actually my first time going out to share the gospel so it was a pretty intense experience. Steve and I got to talk to two guys while we were out. We didn't get a good chance to share the gospel with that guy, but we did talk a bit about faith and Christianity.

The second guy we talked to was all over the place. His name was Marjan and he called himself an atheist, but then made a comment that we all came from God. But then he said God didn't need us because He's God. And then he claimed that God was deep inside every one of our cells and that we all innately had God in us. Finally he decided that God didn't exist and that everything in the Bible could be explained by aliens. It was so crazy and really off-putting that I couldn't get a word in about Christ. The guy just really couldn't make up his mind. It made me sad because I really wanted him to see the truth of God and Christ, but he really didn't want anything to do with either of them.

After we talked to that guy, Steve and I met up with the rest of the group and switched up our teams. I went back out with Collin, one of the other leaders, who insisted that I take the lead on sharing. I was honestly really nervous because I had never really shared before and the first two guys I had talked hadn't really inspired my confidence. But I went out again. Collin and I walked around for a while and talked about why I was worried about sharing. He eventually convinced me that I could do it through God's strength.

We didn't have a lot of time left by the time I got my confidence up, but we were able to talk to this really cool guy named Chandler. He wasn't actually from Chicago, but was in the city for vacation or work or something.We talked a lot about his life, what his spiritual background, what he believed about God. He actually said he believed that Jesus was the Son of God. It just seemed to us that he had been burned by a lot of people in his past. He kept telling us that we would come to realize a lot of things as we got older and that people changed a lot over time. I was actually able to share a bit of my testimony and how God gave me hope for a future through the sacrifice of his Son. He was really cool and Colin and I could tell that he was definitely searching for something good in the world. Colin suggested he read "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel as a starting place, which Chandler seemed pretty enthusiastic about. I think if he actually reads the book, he'll find his way back to God.

I'd say today was a good experience with sharing. I got to see the good, the bad, and the neutral responses to the message of God. Hopefully my experiences in the future will be just as varied and exciting. And I hope I get to see the word of God move among the people of Chicago.

Don't Call It A Comeback

Not much has gone on the past couple days, so I haven't really felt compelled to blog. Today, however, was the annual Staff vs. Student kickball game. All 70 of us students squared off against the 20 or so staff and their families. We actually played on a very nice turf baseball field near the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. Why there is such a thing as a turf baseball field, I don't know, but it was really nice to play on.

The intriguing part of the game was the fact that all 70 of us had to play against the staff. Each one of us had to kick or play in the field, so that we could never get a consistent rotation going. The staff, on the other hand, could keep players on the field for longer and get into a rhythm. I suspect this is part of the reason why the staff are undefeated. Still, we thought we would give it our best shot and try to knock off the champions.

The students raced out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the staff followed that up with two runs and took a 2-1 lead into the second. From there it was all staff, as they went on a 6-0 run to break the game wide open. We were down 8-1 in the top of the 6th (we played to 7 innings) so we got our rally on. We scored three runs in the 6th and closed the gap to 8-4. After blanking the staff in the bottom of the sixth, we had one last shot to bring it home.

We started off the seventh by getting two runners on base. There were a few near outs but due to errors by the staff, we kept runners on the bases. After a long shot to the outfield, another runner scored and we had a few runners in scoring position. But the rotation lagged at that point and we were never able to take advantage of our scorers. The game ended with another staff victory and the students bowing out 8-5.

The staff were nice to us, though, and took us to this little place called Mario's Frozen Lemonade. It was kind of like shaved ice but much finer, and it had real fruit in it. I personally got cherry and blue raspberry, which was very delicious. After that, we walked back to the Lofts and chilled.

That's pretty much the most significant thing that happened this weekend. It was a blessing because I really needed time to sit back and think and relax after the stress of trying to find a job. Still, I have to go out again this week and get it done. I'm really hoping that God shows up in a big way and helps me get hired. And if not, well, I have this story kicking around that I can work on. Either way, I'd be happy.

Students taking the field

The lady students

The dude students

The enemy (staff)

The Sears Tower reflecting the setting sun

The Vast, Infinite Blue

I won't write a whole lot here, but in honor of my determined efforts to find a job, I took it pretty easy today. I visited a Subway that a guy worked at last summer and then turned my app in to Chipotle and talked to the manager, who said she would talk to the higher manager.

Then I trekked back to the Lofts and chillaxed (that is, chilled and relaxed). I surfed the web for a bit, something I actually haven't done too much of while on project. After that, I retreated to my room to watch a movie and work on a book idea I've been kicking around for a couple days. The characters will be based on the guys in my suite and the story... well, I'm still working on that. Actually the titles to my blog posts inspired me to use them as chapter titles, so that's my base.

Anyways, I took a break from that and a group of us went to the aquarium since it was free today. But when we got there, the entire city of Chicago was there too. So instead of waiting in line for 2 hours, we walked down to the planetarium and chilled by the edge of the lake. It was a cool view looking both out on the endless water and back toward the city. Below are some of the picture I took.

The pier next to the Schepp Aquarium

The gang heading down to walk by the waves

Looking over to the rest of Chicago

The Schepp Aquarium

Taylor, Steve, Kaylee, and Bekah

The group chatting by the lake

For some reason I thought this sign was funny and took a photo of it.

The Windy City, majestic on the shores of Lake Meatchicken

Water as far as the eye can see

A jank beach near the pier

Grievous Injuries, Joyous Victories

Although the job situation in Chicago certainly causes me quite a bit of grief, there is something that I look upon every day that makes me even sadder: a beautiful stallion, born to race, born for speed, severely injured, left to die alone in the middle of a dirty city lot, so far from its natural habitat, the open road. The images that follow are graphic and may make my male followers cringe, but I felt that a story this sad had to be shared with the world.

I first noticed this wrecked Ferrari 360 Modena while looking out on the parking lot that sits caddy-corner to our penthouse suite. There are quite a few wrecked cars sitting over there rotting away, but this is by far the most noticeable, mostly due to how exotic and out of place it is in a wrecker lot in downtown Chicago and also due to the severe state of disrepair the car is in. As you can see in the picture above, a significant portion of the left front bumper is missing and the rest is cracked and scraped pretty badly. However, the damage to the front pales in comparison to the rear damage.

The rear bumper has been ripped nearly all the way off. How, I don't know, but the whole thing is riddled with cracks and ready to fall completely apart. It's also apparent the car has been sitting there a while, as the exposed structure underneath has begun to weather pretty harshly. The tailpipes you can see on the right are actually beginning to rust and a lot of the trim around the windows has begun to peel and fade. The Ferrari logos on the top of the trunk area is gone as is the one on the front right quarter panel.

The interior is also in a pretty bad shape. The leather in the seats is cracking, another sign the owner hasn't come back for the car in a very long time. It's pretty dirty inside and there's a compartment behind the driver's seat that's missing a cover, showing some exposed wiring and electrical boxes. Probably the saddest segment of decay in the inside is the engine itself. Because of the bay window over the engine compartment, the paint on the engine has faded a lot. Somehow, there's dirt in the engine too, and what looks like leaves or something. I can only imagine how bad the state of this once-proud racing motor is.

There are a couple of things that baffle me about this car. One, how and why could/would someone wreck such a beautiful car? An original Ferrari 360 Modena cost around $120,000. You would think that people who are rich enough to buy such a nice car would take better care of it. And two, why, even if you wrecked it, would you not pay for repairs to your beautiful car and get it back on the road. As it is, it will rot away in that lot unless someone foots the bill to repair it. I did hear from one of the staff that the repairs could cost around $40,000, so maybe the owner thought it wasn't worth it to pay a third or more of the cost of the car to get it back. Heck, someone give me 40 thousand and I'll buy it, fix it, and then have a Ferrari for my own. Regardless, rich people baffle me with their wasteful excesses sometimes.

However, lest you think that Chicago is all rain and no sun, "The View", as we call it, was on full display a couple days ago. It is absolutely stunning to look out on the sunlit Sears Tower every day. I guess that's one of the little joys I've had while living in the Windy City. The view from the penthouse is superbly exceptional!

"The View" in peak condition

Also enjoyable was the family dinner that we had with the room of girls from 605. We invited them over for yesterday so that we as men could serve them and get to know them better. Stephen went out in the pouring rain to get groceries for us to cook and then we made sesame chicken with red peppers, snow peas, and chopped green onions. This we placed on top of brown rice and then served with Caesar salad and grapes. The girls were duly impressed. I would say the guys were equally impressed by the cake that the girls brought over for dessert. It was really fluffy and very flavorful and so, so moist. The whole dinner was a fun experience and it was nice to socialize with some of our sisters in Christ.

The green onions that I chopped for the chicken

Some Caesar salad

Steve, Dan, and Taylor hard at work impressing the ladies

The final result

Well, that's all for now. I hope this wasn't too long, but I wanted to post all these pictures and update you on some of the things that have been happening.

It Never Rains, But It Pours

Well, yesterday continued the downward spiral from Tuesday night. I headed over to GameStop first thing in the morning to turn in my application and talk to Peter the manager again to maybe convince him to hire me sooner. When I got there, he was on the phone and, instead of finishing his conversation before talking to me, put the phone down on the counter and began to talk to me. I didn't want to hold up the person on the phone, so I hastily handed him my application and told him how much I wanted to work at his store. I asked when he would be hiring and he then told me he would take about a month to do interviews so he could find the right person for his store. Of course, a month from now the job will be useless to me, so that put a damper on my enthusiasm. But I thanked him and left the store to pursue other ventures.

From that point on, there was kind of a cloud of discouragement following me around the city. I took the L to the Old Navy where I had applied to see if I could talk to the manager, but the lines in the store were horrendously long, so I left to explore the city and search for other jobs. I looked all over downtown Chicago and in the Loop area. Every place I went to either had online applications or weren't accepting summer workers. I walked around for an hour or two with no progress.

And then the clouds opened up, literally. It started pouring rain, and even though I had planned ahead and had my umbrella, I still got soaked from my knees down to my feet. I am convinced now that there are few things so demoralizing as being tired, soaked, and unable to find a job in an unfamiliar city that you are living in for the next two months.

I am also convinced that this is the work of Satan, trying to get me to doubt God and turn away. After all, my string of misfortune did begin when I decided to fight Satan's influence in my life so that I could be closer to God. It's hard not to give in to the doubt, because that would give me a place to dumb my frustration, but I know that God brought me here for a reason and he will place me where he wants me. I just have to hold on to that hope.

Ups and Downs

Well, today was my second day of job hunting. There weren't many new targets on my radar, although Josh and I did wander into an Old Navy that had a "We're Hiring" sign and were able to get the manager's information and a number to call. Other than that, we just revisited the GameStop on South Canal that we visited yesterday. I got to talk to the manager, Peter, and gave him my resume. He told me that he actually had four openings coming up and that I should print out an application and bring it back in, that he would be there until 5:30pm if I could get it there. This was really encouraging news because just yesterday the employee there had told me there were only two openings. The progression of improvements in my prospects for getting a job at GameStop really served to lift my spirits and improved my outlook a good deal.

I left GameStop feeling pretty good about life and so I ventured over to Wicker Park to return my application to The Exchange, which is similar to GameStop but with DVDs, records, and CDs, and any game for any system since the NES. I walked in and handed my application to Rick (I got his name right this time) and did my whole "I'd love to work here so if you have an opening soon, let me know" spiel. He actually told me that they had another store closer to where I was staying and that he would fax my application and resume over to them. And if they had another opening sooner, then I would hear from them, too. So, in addition to the GameStop news, now I had better prospects with The Exchange as well. I felt like maybe God was really wanting me to work for one of these places.

I went back to the Lofts in high spirits and then trekked out to Columbia College to meet with my discipler, Steve Ng (ning). We walked around the Columbia buildings looking for students to interact with, but because of the nature of the city and campus, there really wasn't a central location to set up and just interact with a ton of students. So we went to an Asian restaurant and Steve convinced me to try sushi. While I was somewhat not enjoying my sushi experience, Steve asked me about my life story, what my expectations were for project, and what would hold me back from enjoying project to the fullest. It got pretty real pretty quick and I told him all the hopes and fears I had for myself. And I got to hear Steve's story and we formed a bond as brothers in Christ to help each other out. It was a really cool experience, even if it did cut to the core of my being.

After talking with Steve, we made our way back to the lofts, where I finished my GameStop application. By that time it was 5:10 and I had roughly 20 minutes to get from my apartment to the store, a walk that normally takes 26 minutes. I ran/jogged pretty much the whole way there, a distance of about a mile, which was something I hadn't done in quite a while, despite my constant attempts to get in the habit of running. I made it to the store out of breath and sweating with barely 2 minutes to spare. And what should I find out but that Peter had left at 4:00 because it was a slow day. This was the first discouraging blow of the day, because I wanted to make a good impression by getting my application in quickly - I had just talked to Peter that morning.

I offered to give my application to one of the workers at the counter, but the guy told me that if I really wanted the job that I should come back tomorrow and hand it in in person. He also showed me the paltry amount of applications they had gotten so far, which I suppose was encouraging. The other fellow behind the counter, Angel, who I had talked to yesterday, then unknowingly delivered the second discouraging blow, by saying that Peter probably wouldn't be hiring for "three weeks" so I had plenty of time to turn it in. Little did he know, that three weeks is way too far in the future to be any use to me if I got the job.

So now, I'm not sure where God wants me. I'm sure if he wants me to be at GameStop that he will sweep the "three weeks" under the rug and help me gain rapport with Peter so that I could get the job quickly. And if he doesn't want me to be there, then one of my other leads may pan out. All I know is that I have no control of where I'm going, so all I can do is give my path over to God and let him lead me.

The Hunt Begins...

The job hunt, that is. All the quarters kids and the semester kids who didn't have jobs were forced to awake at the unseemly hour of 8:00am to meet and discuss finding jobs. David ZagRodny, one of our leaders here on project, gave us an overview on how the process worked and what to do, and then some people shared what progress they had made or what advice they had for those of us who hadn't been out to search yet. It was all very interesting, but it made me realize that I didn't really have a plan for where I wanted to go or where I wanted to work. I just assumed that I would be told where and what to do.

Since I wasn't given all the answers, I decided to draw up a quick plan of some of the stores that I would be interested in. The list was decent, if a bit short and slightly repetitive: 2 Verizon stores (which I eventually nixed), 2 Staples, 2 Radioshacks, a few Subways, an FYE, and my personal favorite, a Gamestop, which I had applied to previously but never heard back from. I mapped out the most efficient route to my destinations and then headed out, armed with my plan and my friend Josh "Sillyman" Silliman as backup. We set out with high hopes, as we had been hearing stories of people being hired almost the instant they started talking to store owners and managers. Chicago was our oyster and we were aiming to pull out the best pearls of the job marker.

Sillyman and I began our journey by walking (yes, walking) toward the Staples on South Canal Street. Along the way, we chatted about what our job prospects were and where we had worked. We came to the conclusion that we would try pretty much any place we came across, within reason.

The first store we actually came across was a Home Depot. Now, I do not consider myself the Home Depot type with my slight frame and lack of working out, so I let Josh take the lead on that one. It turned out that they weren't hiring so we headed over to Dominick's (the Chicago Kroger) to see what they had to offer. This was where we encountered the dreaded phrase of the day: "online application". The nice lady at the customer service desk informed us that they had jobs open but that we would have to fill out an application online, which completely defeated the purpose of us walking there in the first place. It ended up that Radioshack, Whole Foods, Staples, World Market, and FYE were all online applications. So essentially we walked some 3 or 4 miles all over Chicago for nothing.

If I may make a tangent, this is one of the "progresses of technology" that I now sincerely wish had never been created. In my opinion, online applications eliminate the personal aspect of actually getting involved in the application process and networking with the managers and owners who may not otherwise get a chance to see how you stand out personality-wise from the other applicants. I feel like who you are in person matters as much if not more than what you put on an application. Through online apps, an applicant could potentially fudge their answers and get hired, while a well-qualified, personable young college student in need of a summer job gets left out. But I suppose that's the purpose of interviews. Still, getting to meet managers in person instead of just getting on a website makes it more personal and feels like the company actually cares about you as a potential employee.

With that out of the way, there were a few promising leads that I came across today. I had previously visited a video game/movie exchange store in Wicker Park, Chicago (a.k.a. Hipster Town) called the Exchange where one of the employees told me that they would potentially have openings soon and that I should come back and talk to the manager. I made my way over to the store and interfaced with the manager, Rick, who I mistakenly called Robert (stupid, stupid, stupid). He still gave me an application and told me that they might need workers when the summer started in a week or so.

The other lead, and easily my favorite lead/dream job, was the GameStop that I had previously contacted. I told the guy running the store that I had previously sent in an application and that I was curious if they had any openings available. Lo and behold, he told me that they had two employees who would be leaving soon to pursue other careers and that they would likely have openings sometime in the next two weeks. I couldn't believe my luck. Here was the job I had wanted so very badly and it was going to be open soon. I asked him when the manager would be in to talk and he told me they would be in tomorrow at opening. So you can imagine where I'm going to be in about 9 or so hours.

With this amazing opportunity sitting in front of me, it's hard to sit still and not be too excited. But this empty time that I'm filling write now just makes me more nervous that the opportunity is going to slip through my grasp just as soon as it lands in my palms. I'm sure if God wants me there, then I'll be there. I just hope that my idea is in line with God's idea. If it's not, then I pray that it won't be too long until he leads me to where I need to be. And most of all, that I wouldn't miss what he wants for me. In any case, the game is a foot, and Simba* is on the hunt!

*Simba is the nickname given to me by one of my new friends, Ashley King, for my starring role as Simba in our recreation of the movie "The Lion King".

Charlie Brown

So I don't know how many of you are Coldplay fans, but they just started their summer tour series and have been playing a lot of their new songs from the upcoming LP5. Well, videos of the new tunes have made it on to YouTube courtesy of Coldplayvideo42, and so far, the new stuff is rockin'.

Perhaps my favorite of the ones posted is the song "Charlie Brown". It's a very adventurous song, to say the least. It flows from peppy guitar riffs to deep verse chords and back to the upbeat chorus. Chris does well playing his acoustic guitar on this song, delivering grungy bar chords for the verses. Guy is solid on the bass as always. And Will does a fantastic job with the arrhythmic beat of the song while also providing his superb back-up vocals to Chris' stellar voice.

Probably the most noticeable part of the song is Johnny Buckland's reoccurring guitar track. His expert songsmanship has once again produced an easily recognizable guitar riff that serves to keep the song upbeat and lively. It definitely acts as an identifying factor of the song and anchors the chorus to the verses by acting as a link between each section of song. And, of course, it acts as a fitting intro and outro for the whole piece. Long after you listen to the song, you'll still have that note pattern playing in your head.

Overall, the song is really, really good. Pairing this with "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" creates an instant mood improver on account of the shear energy in each of the songs. And if these songs are any indication of what is going to be on the new CD, then I'll order my copy right now. But I may die from the anticipation.



"Charlie Brown" Lyrics
I stole a key
Took a car downtown where the lost boys meet
I took a car downtown and took what they offered me
To set me free

I saw the lights go down at the end of the scene
I saw the lights go down and they're standing in front of me

My scarecrow dreams
When they smashed my heart into smithereens
I be a bright red rose come bursting the concrete
Be the cartoon heart

Light a fire, light a spark
Light a fire, a flame in my heart

We'll run wild oh
We'll be glowing in the dark
Glowing in the dark

All the boys, all the girls
All the madness in the world
All the boys, all the girls
All the madness that occurs
All the highs, all the lows
As the room is spinning, oh

We'll run wild oh
We'll start glowing in the dark

So we'll run wild oh
We'll be glow in the dark

The First Sunday Church Service

Today was the first church service that we had as a group on project. I went, with the rest of the students and staff, to Willow Creek Church in downtown Chicago. It was pretty fun getting there since we had to take the L train. What a sight to see 100 or so students and staff all getting on the subway at the same time. And it wasn't obvious at all that we were all together.

A cool thing about this church is that it's held in a theatre called the Roosevelt Auditorium. It's exactly what you would expect from an old-fashioned theatre: golden arches along the ceiling lit with old-fashioned light bulbs and covered in flowers and plants and vines. And there were these gold domes spaced across the arches that I couldn't figure out the purpose for except an elaborate decoration, a purpose which they served well. One of the coolest details of the arches, in my opinion, was the gold leaf tracings around the edges of the arches. The intricacy of the patterns in the gold leaf was amazing to look at as it shimmered in the dim light.

The golf leaf that frames the edges of the arches

The golden domes and some of the plant detail

Another intriguing part of the theatre are the murals on the walls. There was a main one over the stage that depicted various peoples doing various things. There were monks and angels and runners and fainting naked women (because for some reason that is a requirement for Classical and Renaissance art) and all of them surrounded a stone monument which read "The Utterance of Life is a Song, the Symphony of Nature." It acted as a nice headpiece for the stage and along the side of the stage were names of famous composers like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven framing the band on the stage.

The stage, it's murals, and the golden arches on the ceiling

The main floor of the theatre

I sat up in the balcony and there were two other murals on both sides of where I was sitting. One depicted a graveyard among the trees. According to it's description, it represented the requiem of eternal sleep. I couldn't get closed to it before I left so I am unsure exactly what it said. The one closest to me showed a spring in a field and it represented life and love. It was a very neat experience to be surrounded by such intricate details and beautiful expressions of life and nature. I would be lying if I said I wasn't more enthralled by the building than the sermon. Maybe next week I'll pay more attention, but the Roosevelt Auditorium is certainly a fascinating building to be in.

The "Spring" mural near where I sat

A picture of the intricate detail in the tile floors

As always, thanks for the support. I am so glad I get to be here.
-Brad Girdwood

Chicago Summer Project: The Arrival

Well, the moment has arrived: I am in Chicago.
I have been here for roughly 27 hours and I have to say these have been the busiest 27 hours of the year, even more so than when I was at The Ohio State University. Ever since I arrived yesterday, I have been running all over the apartment building and all over the city, unpacking, buying food, and hanging out with the 60 other students that have moved to Chicago for project. Needless to say, it has been hectic around here so far, and I suspect it will be that way for much of the summer with all the things that the staff have planned for us.

So now for a little recap of what has happened over the last day or so.
First thing I did when I got here was unload my stuff and get it up to my room. We were able to move everything in one load, which was nice since I strongly dislike making multiple trips to and from the car. Once all my stuff was in my apartment I got a chance to look around at our setup here. It's always encouraging when people keep telling you that you have the best suite in the entire building. And none of them were kidding at all. The first thing you notice about the apartment when you come in is the view. Our suite is locate on the corner of the building overlooking Morgan Street and Van Buren so we have a clear view of the surrounding area. Additionally, we have a straight on view of the Sears Tower, which is such a sight to behold. I couldn't ask for a better view of the city.

This may not be the best example, but looking out on the Sears Tower each day is pretty cool

This is the view down Morgan St. I think it's cool how the road just goes off into the distance.

Our suite is also incredibly spacious. You barely notice there are six guys sharing this space, except for the stuff all over the floor. The main room includes a full kitchen, a lounge/living room area and space for a dinner table that can fit us all. There are four bedrooms of which I have one all to myself, which is great because I like my space. And there are also two bathrooms so that all six of us are not sharing one bathroom. You can imagine how much of a disaster that would be after ten weeks.

As far as my suitemates go, they're pretty cool. Stephen, whom we call Coan (it's his last name and it's fun cause it sounds like Cone), is my fellow Ohio State Buckeye in the room. Caleb hails from Muskingum University and actually just arrived back from a friend's wedding. From what I can gather he's kind of a techie like me and a very intelligent person. Then there's Taylor and Dan from Michigan State. Taylor is a pretty smart guy if a little hyper and disorganized. He also eats a lot, so I have to guard my food well so that it does not meet a mysterious fate in the middle of the night. Dan is quieter but still talkative, kind of the 'dad' of the group. He just left to get groceries for tonight's dinner if that explains the designation. Finally there's Adam. He's kind of like an organized version of Taylor: pretty hyper but not much of a mess maker. Overall we make a pretty good group. I think this summer will be pretty fun in our suite.

Caleb (left) and Adam (right) trying to figure out the vacuum

Taylor (left) and Dan (right) cooking our dinner

Stephen Coan looking fly. I stole this from his Facebook since he wasn't available to be photographed

Aside from my suitemates I've met a lot of people on the project in the past day. Most people are pretty friendly and welcoming, so it was nice to get to talk to a bunch of different people from other colleges. I feel like the chemistry of the group is good, so things should go well over the next ten weeks. We've already done a few group activities that have been fun. We went to see the new X-men last night, which was fun, although the theater we went to was really weird. They had reserved seating so that we couldn't sit where we wanted to and had to split up. And there were four security guards in the one theater we were in to make you move if you sat in the wrong seat. It kind of ruined my enjoyment of the movie, but it was still good. Then today we got oriented to the city by the staff and then went on a tour of Downtown, where we went around different stops on the subway to pray for the city. We got to go to Millennium Park in the middle of the city and check out some of the sites. Among the things we saw at the park were the famous "Bean" statue as well as two weddings and a large crowd of Zombies. Yes, there were zombies in Millennium Park. Apparently we arrived at the same time as the 2011 Chicago Zombie March so there were a multitude of people shambling around the park looking very undead. It was actually kind of cool, although some people had in fake contacts that made their eyes discolored and weird.

Millennium Park in Downtown Chi-Town

The Bean

After we escaped the zombie apocalypse, we walked through some of the parks down Michigan Avenue and then made our way back to the Lofts to relax before dinner. This is the first period in the past day that I've been able to sit down and relax, and boy, does it feel good. I feel like I've done as much walking and standing as I did in all my time at Ohio State. But it's all been fun so far, so I think I'm definitely going to enjoy myself.

Before I close, I want to thank all of you who are supporting me on my mission this summer. I could not have made it to this point without your faithful giving and trust in me and our staff to use your money wisely. I can assure you that the money you donated has been very well spent so far and will continue to provide us with the funds we need to accomplish our goal of bringing the light of Jesus to the Chicago area.

Thank you all so much for your support,
-Brad Girdwood