Rambling introspection and poor writing to follow.

The headline? We'll get to that.

A little over a year ago my wife and I moved to New York City with our two children. We left a house and life in suburban Chicago, as evidenced in all these Flickr photos that serve as a reminder of our histroy.

We sold the house, packed up tight and left town in a stretch limo with six suitcases and a hermit crab in my wife's front pocket.

We arrived with no apartment to rent, jobs or money. The money was tied up in the sale of our house that was occurring in a couple days, I had interviews lined up but nothing solid and for lodging a friend named Tom hooked up a tiny studio for the four of us.

I'm going to take the liberty of speeding up this story. I'll share more of it another time.

Needless to say, things didn't work out quite like we have hoped or planned.

I didn't get the jobs that I had interviewed for. The money from the sale of our house didn't clear our bank for 3 weeks. Once it cleared we got on with things.

Which brings me to the short version of things:

New York has been many things to our family. I fell it love with every part of it and convinced my family to come with. They've stood by me as opportunities have come and gone. They've believed in me in what my own personal history will recount as one of the most challenging years of my life.

Things are on the up and I feel a little more comfortable taking the time to look at this last year as a series of challenges.

My children may never forgive me. Hopefully, later in life, they'll appreciate that mom and dad took risks in order to provide them a more interesting life. Who else gets to watch a midget hooker try to work their father at a subway stop with a sweet line like, "Wanna party, Giant?"

Nothing in suburbia packs that much excitement except a play-date at the local children's museum.

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the only thing missing is a chicago style dog and this dude could be the mascot for the city.

you gots a tuba, you gots a party. memba that.

Mark I put this one down for you. It was lagging behind the heard due to sheer girth.

I added it to my girth.

These hot dogs were waiting for tourists or an ardent Bears fan to consume at Portillo's on W. Ontario St.

Another shot from the other night.

I am still unsure what to think of the meetup. I have never been bullish on Chicago's tech community and this event didn't change that.

For some reason Chicago still tends to lag behind the coasts even with a level playing field called the internet.

I think the culprit is the culture and the industries that employ most of the tech people here like banking and insurance.

Maybe, it is just me and the type of tech community that I am seeking to be a part of. Could be that the coasts and the vibrant innovation that is occurring in the Boulder (yes, I said it) fit me best.

These are the CD's that are outside the Vocolo studio at Chicago Public Radio.

Vocolo is a project by WBEZ to get the community involved in production. Think podcasting meets public access meets broadcasting over the airwaves.

The welcoming lights outside of Chicago Public Radio's front door at Navy Pier, Chicago.

just joined the party here. some dude dominating conversation.

i have to pee.

just arrived at msichicago.org with the kids.

was told they are filimg with the chicks today.

sporting the finest piece of embroidery in the gretaer chicago are, this man throws down challenge.

your mission today if you choose to accept it is to snap a shot of another bad ass jacket and upload it to flickr.

once done leave me a link and we can get this award handed out.

Today was daddy day and it all worked out perfectly thanks to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago - free admission.

It's been about a year since I took the kids and thought that Maggie might really enjoy it now that she is older.

When I told them where we were going the first thing she said was, "baby chickens". It's amazing what they remember. The last time she was there she was a year and a half old.

Why can't I remember stuff like that?

I think the animals at Brookfiled Zoo were a bit freaked out that it's January in Chicago and 56 degrees outside.

Every animal enclosure had mopey animals (what zoo doesn't) that appeared to be molting already. Gonna be a cold February for those poor beasts.

However, Betsy did get a shot of a Mr. B in the wild transporting its offspring back to the their lair.

Greg making happy at TechCocktail Chicago 6.