Full Circle Project

"El Salvador"
Wicker Park; Chicago, Il.
December 29th, 2010; 5:37pm

Because of the narrow hallway, if you are standing in the center of the piece and facing forward, this is the shot your camera will take.

Thirty Six For Twenty Four

 (click for detailed version)

Each of these were used for a twenty-four hour period. The first day is May 16th, the last is today. 

I've been changing my Twitter profile picture everyday for the last forty days (save for two days of Phish and two days of afterglow). At first it was the Phish #Twibe 'Lope, care of @UNOlker and @strangedesign. Then last Tuesday I was invited to join the #RedEyeRoyalty blog, and with great honor have been incorporating the RedEye Royalty badge.

Just Keep Truckin' On

I've been changing my Twitter avatar everyday while incorporating the Phish Twibe logo (which I must give props to UNOlker for). Here are the first sixteen avatars I have created and used, each for a twenty-four hour period. I realized on Twitter we link our avatars to our account personality. The picture represents who we are on Twitter and makes it easier for us to locate specific tweets. I figured a fun way to deviate from that would be to change my avatar everyday, making it harder for any one person to locate my tweets. All in the name of fun and chaos!

click picture for larger version

@thegratefulone

Excuse Me, Lollygagger: I've Got Some Pavement to Shred

So, ten rides into the season and I've already grown tired of my original route from last year, the route highlighted here in Ride Number Eight, so I decided to mix it up on Friday and rode South into Wicker Park on Damen. Pretty scenic, very "city." But it was still extremely windy out, especially heading South, so I cut the route short and dove East at North Avenue, and only ventured slightly into Old Town before hitting the Lake Shore bike path and heading back North (though I must say heading North on the bike path, riding with the winds, is a world of difference compared to riding South against the winds along the lake). Google map'd.

This is the time of year when it seems like the number of people outside increases exponentially by the hour. And with more people bring more obstacles which in turn brings more fun! I've realized the last few days of riding that everybody who rides is riding for a different reason. Most ride to lollygag, lazily enjoying the scenery around them; others are riding for pure exercise, zooming past in spandex suits; while others are riding for commuter purposes, taking them from point A to point B. There are hundreds of reasons why any individual is out on a bike, and they are all good reasons.

I ride for sport. I ride aggressively. I ride the shit out of these roads. I ride in front of traffic; I do not slow down; I get in your way and I pedal with full force; I bomb every bit of open pavement using every muscle in my body. And as the city grows to life throughout the summer, the same trails get increasingly challenging, bringing more and more adventure to the sport of city bike riding.

Here is my route from Friday's ride. While it was shorter than usual, around 14 miles, it was a step in a new direction, finding new routes and new trails to take me on new adventures.

Here are some pictures from this ride. Click any of the shots, including the map above, for larger slides. Pictures are numbered according to the map above.

(1) Chicago river from North Avenue facing Southeast

with the N. tip of Goose Island on the right

(2) At North Beach, facing West, away from the lake.

You can see the wind in this picture.

 

(3) North Ave. Beach facing East towards the lake.

Really quickly I want to mention "30 Days of Biking," an event taking place throughout all of April. The idea, pretty self explanatory, is to ride every day of April. It's a national thing and a topic that has started gaining attention on twitter. You can find more information about it here: 30 Days of Biking

And here is the twitter search for it: #30daysofbiking

Happy Easter!

-Zach

@thegratefulone

Oh High on the City Trail

7th ride of the season, first ride of Spring! And my first completion of 2009's full route. Which, when google map'd, came out to 23.2 miles, 1.2 miles longer than I thought. If I'm hitting up this route in March, which is the route that capped my season last year, I can only assume it will grow from here.

Northern most point: Foster and Damen. Southern most point: Roosevelt and Lake Shore Drive / Adler Planetarium.

Ride Number Seven:

Click map for magnified image. 

Took lots of pictures. I tweeted the hell out of the ride, too. Click any of the images for slightly bigger pictures. To be able to see so much in one ride, from the Northern suburban-like neighborhoods, all the way down to the grandeur of the new city, it's a pretty awesome sensation.  I want to start exploring the world on my bike.

 Old Chicago College. NM point of ride: 

Foster and Damen

Crew putting up a Toyota sign at 

Wrigley Field

Fullerton and Lake Shore Drive,

facing South

Flipside: about 12 minutes later from the Shedd 

Aquarium back lawn, facing North

From my Chocolate: an amazing 1.3 megapixels. 

Great shot of #chicago

I used the gravitational pull of Adler Planetarium

to slingshot myself back into the city!

The Trump Building. One of my favorite new 

additions. From Wabash & Wacker.

A true "on the go" snapshot! In Old Town

at Menomonee and Sedgwick.

First ride of Spring went well. Things are warming up here in Chicago, although we'll probably get at least one more snowstorm before it really starts to get warm out.

Happy City Trails!

Cheers!

@thegratefulone

5th Bike Ride of Pre Spring

Just Mere Hours Before Announcement, Without a Worry in the World...

Took off on my fifth bike ride of March earlier today around 5 o' clock in the afternoon. First ride of daylight savings.

I almost completed my 22 mile OG Summer Run from last year, coming just 2 miles shy: I stopped at Millenium Park and turned right on Monroe instead of continuing down to the Adler Planetarium.

The sun was hot but the air was cold, the smell of burning leaves in the air and snow still on the jetties; it was as if all four seasons were sharing the sunlight of the same day.

Here is the route I took. 

And here are some pictures I took on the go, though take caution: tweeting while biking is not recommended and is a highly dangerous activity. 

I only took pictures during the North part of the ride. Once I got into the loop I wanted to focus more on the road (obviously); first ride down Michigan Avenue of the season. It was fucking stellar!

Taking advantage of daylight savings, ~5:30pm

at Homer Park, California and Montrose

Heading South on Ravenswood, old Bowman 

Dairy factory on the right.

Controlled fires, brush clearing at Winnemac

Park on Foster and Damen

Now back to tour planning! 

Cheers!

@thegratefulone

The Impossible Shop Fixes Bugs

600 Film Available

After a rough start to a promising weekend of discounted Polaroid film, the Impossible Project has fixed the bugs that were halting the sale of their Polaroid 600 film. 

But act quickly! This is a limited supply and the discounted price of $19 a pack, which is the cheapest on the internet, only applies to orders of 5 or less packs. Otherwise it's $22 a pack, which is still ridiculously cheaper than Amazon or Ebay. 

Take advantage of this great offer and be grateful. 

Cheers! from @thegratefulone

The Impossible Shop "Sells Out" Overnight?

So, I posted last night about a live countdown for Polaroid 600 film going on sale today. It was around midnight last night when I posted and it was set to go on sale today around seven in the morning.

Well, their website is listing that the 600 film is already sold out.

But whoever tweets for Impossible under the handle @ImpossibleUSA is responding to frantic 600 devotees by saying that there is still lots of film available. Hmmm....

These tweets are from about 40 minutes ago (~10 am central time)

• my inventory list shows lots of film left - I'm looking into it. will let you know asap :) 43 minutes ago via web

• I just tried adding 600 film to my cart and didn't have a problem, can you try again and let me know what happens?

 So, I'm trying to figure this one out, and I will keep this blog posted as necessary.

And The Sale Begins! Live Countdown at the Impossible Shop

It finally happens! After weeks of stalling, The Impossible Project (formerly PolaPremium) has opened up the doors for their 600 film in stock.

There is a live countdown on their shops website right now!

Cheers!

*though I still need to get my Spirit 600 fixed. Shutter button why won't you shutter!

**you can follow The Impossible Project on Twitter @ImpossibleUSA

Warm Spring Strong Winds

Took my 3rd ride yesterday, Wednesday, March 10th, around 3:30pm. The first real nice day out here in Chicago: sixty-four degrees and sunny. Rained all morning but around two o'clock the sun broke through and hung out for the rest of the day.

Got to the Lake Shore Drive bike and running path for the first time this year. Got on at Addison and took it South to Fullerton and Lincoln Park Zoo. Lots of people out and lots of visible smiles, a general excitement just to be outside, the lake winds a reminder of the summer to come. 

Here is a rough sketch of the path I took:

My bike needs a lot of work. The spokes are completely rusted on both wheels, the wheels don't run straight, the front brakes don't work, the back brakes are extremely loud, and the gears don't change at all. Stuck on 2/6. I'll get some pictures up soon.

Here are a couple twitpics from the ride:

@thegratefulone

New Upgrades to PolaPremium

PolaPremium and The Impossible Project seemed to have officially merged today. The websites, which were once entirely separate sites, have gone through some upgrades and now are almost one in the same. In fact, when you Google "The Impossible Project" and go to their website they now have a link that takes you to the Impossible Store, which in essence was PolaPremium. When you Google "PolaPremium" it takes you directly to the same site as well, The Impossible Store, which you can find here: The Impossible Store.

But they still haven't restocked their 600 film! I only have 7 photos left!

Though according to them, their warehouses are restocked:

Our US warehouse is now FULLY restocked and the Impossible shop totals will be updated later today. Thanks for your patience! #polaroid about 13 hours ago (via Twitter)

And @ImpossibleUSA is still taking questions. When I asked if they were restocking the 600 soon, which has been out of stock for a while now, they promptly replied,

@thegratefulone we have 5,000 packs in our warehouse :) just waiting for the website to be updated later today. about 14 hours ago

So we're all patiently waiting for our 600 film. Can't complain though; this company and the project is a fantastic endeavour.

Update on Polapremium

Still haven't restocked their 600 film yet.

According to their twitter account, @ImpossibleUSA, the film got held up at customs but should be in stock soon.

#toogoodtobetrue?

http://www.polapremium.com/shop/film/600

New Polaroid Camera and The Impossible Project

So, a few days ago I found a really cool looking, vintage Polaroid camera, pictured here, on craigslist. I called the woman, she was very nice, she mentioned the camera had been in her closet for twenty years. I drove there, tried it, it worked, paid her, and left.

I get home and go online to find where to buy more film for the camera. It is a Spirit 600 Polaroid Camera, circa 1983, I believe. Much to my chagrin, within minutes of tearing open the film package that came with it and snapping off a couple photos, I find out that Polaroid discontinued production of all classic Polaroid film, including shutting down the factories where the film was made. This happened in 2008.

Apparently, because of this, there was a mad rush on Polaroid film, and when I went to Amazon to search for film, prices ranged from forty dollars to one hundred dollars, and that was for one pack of ten shots.
I look down at my two "test" shots that were still developing in front of me. Five dollars for a picture of my brother on the couch. Five dollars for a picture of our backyard from the sun room. Hmph.

So, like everyone, I went online to rant and vent. On twitter, I complained:

just read that Polaroid stopped making 600 film. so for 1 pack of film, that has 10 shots in it, amazon charges $39.99 (at the lowest) 5:50 PM Feb 15th
4 dollars a photo! 5:52 PM Feb 15th
make every picture count 5:56 PM Feb 15th

One hour later, someone noticed my complaints, and responded:

@ImpossibleUSA to @thegratefulone: we sell 600 film for $21/pack on our retail site (polapremium.com) it'll be fully restocked by the end of the week. 6:56 PM Feb 15th
ImpossibleUSA to @thegratefulone: p.s. we're also making NEW 600 film. B&W will be out in the spring and color in the summer :) 6:57 PM Feb 15th

How awesome. A group called The Impossible Project and a company called PolaPremium had bought almost all of the remaining Polaroid film and were not only selling it much cheaper than people on Amazon and Ebay, but were also in the process of making new film. Amazing.
So, this is all leading up to a point. I am going to start dedicating part of this blog, The Perpetual Log, to infinite awesomeness of Polaroid pictures. Since they still right now cost around four to five dollars a photo, I am backing them up digitally, and will post them as they happen. Probably one a week.

Here are the first two.

Here are a the links to the sites described above:

• http://www.polapremium.com
• http://www.the-impossible-project.com/2009
• http://twitter.com/ImpossibleUSA

Cheers!