Visiting Chicago

~ Ben Messick ~ Leave a comment

Ten quick ideas for visiting Chicago: (Not written by AI!)

  1. Don’t drive into Chicago! Park for free at Dune Park and ride the South Shore train into Chicago.

  2. Eat Pizza. I love me some Giordano’s Deep Dish Pizza.

  3. Visit Navy Pier. Ride the Ferris Wheel or just look around.

  4. Walk Michigan Avenue. Window shop on the The Magnificent Mile and people watch.

  5. Get a better view. Visit the Willis Tower Skydeck or maybe the 360 CHICAGO Observation Deck in the John Hancock building.

  6. Go to a Chicago Cubs game.

  7. Get a selfie at the Bean. I love taking a walk through Millennium Park and best of all it’s free.

  8. Explore nature at Shedd Aquarium. My favorite animal exhibits are always under water and this place is amazing.

  9. Feel inspired at the The Art Institute of Chicago. Expensive but one of the best in the world. There used to be free days for everyone, but now that’s only for Illinois Residents. :-/

  10. Need a fancy date night? Try the Chicago Symphony Orchestra which plays at the most beautiful Orchestra Hall.

AddItUp ScoreSheet

~ Ben Messick ~ Leave a comment

A new mobile app to scratch my own itch. We often play games (Scrabble, rummy, Skyjo, etc.) that require a scoresheet and I have been unhappy with the number of taps it requires to record the score in the app I currently use. I also wanted a built-in calculator– the result: AddItUp Scoresheet.

This is my first attempt with React Native. So… it is available in both the Google Play store and the Apple’s App Store. It supports phones and tablets in both orientations.

Let me know what you think.

Weekly Update – 4/23/23

~ Ben Messick

As of today, we are officially farther north than Fort Wayne and out of the desert. Lots of grass in the valleys and snow on the mountains.

Outside of exploring St. George, I spent the week working on job applications and had a couple interviews. I am excited about the possibilities for the fall, but trying not to get too excited.

Photos from Week #11 of Ben Messick Photography.

Weekly Update – 4/17/23

~ Ben Messick

Week #10 of Ben Messick Photography shown above. Two travel days in one week make for a tired family. But we are now settled in at a nice campground in southern Utah. The weather is perfect and I can see the mountains as I type.

We have now spent over 250 nights in the camper. I think I am getting used to it. Looking ahead, I have made campground reservations near Glacier National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Mt. Rushmore and Johnny Appleseed Park.

We have a ways to go, but it feels like we are near the end.

Weekly Update – 4/9/2023

~ Ben Messick ~ Leave a comment

Happy Easter! Only THREE more days of Arizona! We are getting up early tomorrow to beat the lines and see the sunrise over the Grand Canyon. We will start the sprint north on Thursday and then back to end the trip in Indiana at the end of June. We will spend Thursday and Friday in the Lake Mead/Las Vegas area. On Saturday we will arrive in St. George, Utah for a week followed by a week in Salt Lake City.

In other news, I am applying for a couple Computer Science teaching jobs in Indiana. It’s time to start figuring out what I am going to after this “trip.”

Summary of Week #9 of the Ben Messick Photography posts above. If you don’t follow me there, you should!

Castle Rock

~ Ben Messick

I struggle with taking pictures of iconic areas. The views are amazing, but then the photographs of them are even more amazing. Walk in one of the many galleries in Sedona and you will find mesmerizing photos of the well known landmarks. The images will be in the perfect light from the perfect angle with a unicorn rearing in the background. Why even bother?

I bother for several reasons. The landscape is aways changing and a photo from the past isn’t the same as today. I also enjoy the process. Even if all the photos from an outing never get shared, I will still have enjoyed my time in nature making images. And sometimes, I get a picture like today’s that I really like and haven’t seen in the gallery. My perspective.

I took this photograph last week at the Crescent Moon Picnic Site in Sedona, Arizona. I used a Nikon Z5 camera using a NIKKOR Z 24-70mm ƒ/3.2 S lens (1/125 sec at ƒ/3.5, ISO 100, 67mm). I edited the image in Adobe Lightroom.