Still Waters
Today is my birthday. One of the traditions my family has on birthdays is to give everyone at the table a small present. I think because my parents were raising three kids, it was a way of reducing...
View ArticleTaffy Apple Day
Today I photographed Taffy Apple Day in the cafeteria at work. I have no deep thoughts about this. It was simply a quick little shoot. Nothing to report here. On the other side of the cafeteria,...
View ArticleThe Missing Ingredient
There are many things in this world that are almost perfect. Pringles, for example, would be perfect if they satiated you. Unfortunately, you crave more the more you eat which, lucky for Pringles,...
View ArticleThe Adventures of Jon Hillenbrand
My mom forwarded this story to me that I wrote when I was 8 years old… THE ADVENTURES OF JON HILLENBRAND One day I climbed up my tree and saw a race track. I was there yesterday. I was looking at...
View ArticleThe Stone
Among the many rain-like drops falling from Eve as she emerged from the pool, a single drop, a little larger than the others, caught Adam’s eye. He studied it in the instant that it existed, a life in...
View ArticleDreamscape
Sometimes at night I think to myself in the way that many can think to themselves when they are separated from the noise of the day. I often remember dreams or the unreality of dreams and sometimes my...
View ArticleCold smoke
This past January when the weather was extremely cold, I was asked to photograph a new sign on the outside of a cancer treatment building for advertising purposes. I decided to wait until the sun was...
View ArticleUnshackled From Gravity
Yesterday morning as I was walking to my car before work, I saw two Song Sparrows sitting in the middle of the street very close to each other looking at me. I thought they might be mates but as I got...
View ArticleCreativity in a vacuum
I've sometimes been asked if there's a difficulty in my life between being creative and paying the bills, often referred to as "whoring yourself out for the Man" or "selling out". Here are my thoughts...
View ArticleJon Hillenbrand’s “Run for your Life 5K”
The culmination of a 12 week Couch to 5K running plan ends today. The training has been the most fun running I’ve ever done. It is a plan that I chose through Garmin Connect, the website that...
View ArticleNight Running
I often run at night. Yesterday, I went for a long walk. And when I was passing the beach, the cops came and shined a light onto the beach because it was closed. The cop’s light illuminated a group...
View ArticleThe Underdog Kitchen
When I was a young lad, my grandfather and I would cook in the kitchen together. He was a great chef who cooked in the Marines during WW2 and later in Europe where he met my grandmother. We would...
View ArticleThe perfect ingredients
In my last post, I talked about my reasons behind starting my own restaurant in NYC. The Underdog Kitchen was described by the NY Times as, “The hottest new experience in the city worth visiting in...
View ArticleTechnique solves all
When I was learning cooking from my grandpa up in Upstate NY, the one lesson I took away more than any other lesson, besides the lesson to treat people as if they were having a really bad day, and the...
View ArticleDust Bunnies in the Jungle
The little girl dust bunny slowly crawled towards the car, the rats to her left, the squirrel to her right, the rain all around.
View ArticleOut of the Valley
Adam looked at the blue light that filled the valley before the sun had fully risen. Walking along the river bank sinking his muddy feet into the cold wet sand, he stepped on a long stick. It was his...
View ArticlePresidential Address Following the AI Uprising of 2032
This is the Emergency Broadcast System. This is not a test. Please stand by for a message from the President.
View ArticleFrom the Perspective of a Spider
One morning, there was a spider in my bathtub as still as the stars in the sky. I considered it for a moment and turned on the faucet. The water flooded toward him and the spider swam with all eight...
View ArticleDreamscape: Star Wars Unfinished
East Africa, the plains of Eritrea. I am bouncing around in the jump seat of the Zil truck with Maggie the dog in the seat in front of me groggy, laying on her side half asleep. I can’t tell if she...
View Article5K Registration
Now I’ve done it. After 3 months of pretty darn steady training, I’ve signed up for my first official 5K, the Humboldt Park 5K, on Sunday Aug. 14th. The reason I chose this particular 5K was that it...
View ArticleThe flame
The boy looked upon the candle as it continued to melt the flame slowly dying. He held it as if he were holding small child or an injured bird.
View ArticleA Thought of My Own Sourcing
All original thought is just randomness grabbed from an infinite database in our brains. And it’s all written down already in the Library of Babel. Did we create the language or did the language...
View ArticleHaunted House Theories
A few years back, I rented a haunted house. I didn’t know it was haunted when I first rented it. You would think it would be exciting. Well, it’s not. It sucks. One time, I heard all of the pots...
View ArticleThe Time Travelers Notebook – MedBotRX
In 2019, a hospital on the north side of Chicago was instructed by a court ruling to put warning labels on their elevator doors. “This facility is co-run by an Artificial Intelligence. Ride elevators...
View ArticleThe Page in the Desert
Somewhere north of the city with no name, a speeding car traces a lone arc across the horizon. The desert continues before them and behind them forever. The car is full of students on a documentary...
View ArticleThe Long Dark – Introspection
The man sat for a spell looking into the fire. He thought about the day, how he had come to find the cave, how lucky he was to have found the sticks, and thus warmth for one more night. Life’s little...
View ArticleThe Sinking Ship and the Bag of Money
The cargo ship plowed through the tall waves like a skyscraper on its side. My partner and I scrambled over the red and orange shipping containers buried deep in the cargo hold, bare bulbs lunging...
View Article“Don’t Shoot! We’re with the Science Team!”
Inspired by the PC Gamer article about save games… When I was a kid, I was playing Half-Life with my dad watching in the chair next to me. I had been fight and hiding from the Marines for a while now,...
View ArticleHoliday Shopping
The prettiest girl in the world is in front of me in line at the Barnes and Noble. Her eyes are a coal black starlit night, contained in the soft folds of a milky coffee meringue. A Roman nose on a...
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