This week, it was tongue-in-cheek that I wrote about Marina City covering over its emergency evacuation posters with laundry room memos. The same night I wrote that, a fire broke out on the 29th floor of a neighboring residential high-rise on Wabash Avenue. Then last night, a major fire in a condo tower in Streeterville killed one resident and injured 12 other people.
Monday morning now marks eight consecutive days that management here at the Marina City corncobs has covered the legally required high-rise emergency evacuation maps in the complex’s East Tower with a cute-polar-bear-emblazoned laundry room memo.
It’s one thing to watch the Sears Tower disappear into the murky whiteness from below. It’s quite another to stand atop one of Marina City’s twin, 61st-floor open-air roofdecks and try and make out the Chicago Loop from inside an aerial fog bank, itself.
People say the strangest things to me in downtown Chicago. This past weekend was a trifecta. Sunday afternoon I ran into Marina City’s own Vincent Falk, aka the colorful, tour-boat-waving Riverace (rhymes with Liberace), standing together with Marina City Online scribe Steve Dahlman mid-span on the State Street Bridge.
‘Most notable of the pre-existing non-Trib blogs that have so far been added are CTA Tattler and Mike Doyle, of Chicago Carless, who is heading up Chicagosphere, a look at the Chicago blog scene.’–Chicagoist
Pastry Chef Chris would call to sniff at me later in the day, in between bouts of coughing. My old beau’s new beau spent the weekend in the hospital with a high fever. The test results arrived back yesterday afternoon. ‘Yep,’ Chris said. ‘He’s got swine flu.’
There are many reasons why I choose to work from home. Among them: avoiding rush hour; avenging 15 years of an hour-long NYC commute; and evading boundary-ignoring clients. But the best reason I can think of is the one I see every time I step out onto my 38th floor Marina City balcony. Take a look at the video and see whether you agree. Yes folks, it’s a long way down.
Recently finding out a Facebook friend is a neighbor at Marina City, it was only a matter of time before I came over to check out the view. Oh, envy. Oh, West Tower, why must you mock me so? Watch the video and see what I mean.
For some time now, I’ve been of the opinion of media-watcher blog, Newspaper Death Watch: that is, journalistic hubris and an outdated refusal to change with the times have rendered the print-news industry immune to learning lessons from the people on the web who know full well how to build a community of visitors.
Take a circular stroll with me around Marina City’s 61st-floor, 360-degree deck with panoramic views of downtown Chicago and find out what truly keeps me in the corncobs.