Picked this book up at Powell's recently and was surprised how good it was. Esherick's work wasn't necessarily cutting edge or super modern (a recent rip to the Bay Area confirms that's par for the region), but it is extremely thoughtful and well crafted. The book was a great read and smartly broke down the houses by archetypes rather than chronologically. Lots of good pictures and drawings, but I think the real gems are Esherick's own quotes. I wish I could have met this guy, super great one-liners! I would suggest picking this one up, its super cheap and well made, and a nice grounded place to come back for graceful inspiration.

Just took delivery of a case of Big Trouble, a rasberry/jalapeño beer from the guys at Hunx Brewing. Justin and Paul run a small brewery out of Sam Sal's Humbolt Park apartment, and damned if they don't make some delicious beers. I think I've had their IPA, strawberry blond and of course, Big Trouble, and I know they have a couple others they turn out too. Check out their Facebook page here, and if you are in the Chicago area perhaps you can show some support and get some beer while you are at it. Keep it up Hunx!

EPIC

Finally, it's out in the open: Adam had his 30th birthday! Actually, this was a well known fact, but what was a secret was the party up in Tahoe with all of us organized by his wife Eva. She put together a video with a ton of people wishing him happy birthday, and this was my contribution. It was a blast, and so awesome to hang out with old friends and meet a bunch of new ones. Thank you to everyone for such a great time, and lets do it again for 31!

I meant to post this a while ago with a little update about work, but work has been busy! This is the view from the office of Loebl Schlossman and Hackl, and where you can find me durng the weekdays and some weekends now. Great people in the office and working on interesting stuff, and if you ever get a little idle you can always saunter over and check out what Chicago is up to!