I stayed in a downtown Chicago youth hostel

This weekend I stayed two nights in a downtown Chicago hostel, the Parthenon. My partner said it was too dangerous and that I would get bedbugs and diseases. My partner was way, way wrong. I had a great experience.

The hostel was in Greek town. It was operated by a welcoming and fastidious Greek family. The entire place was tidy, uncluttered, and extremely clean.

My room was on the third floor. A spiral stair led upwards past unique art. I humped my backpack up the stairs to the room.

My room was about 250 square feet in size and it had three sets of bunks (6 racks). My rack was on the top. I'm 6 foot and I took up the entire length with only about 6 inches to spare on each end. Just the right size.

I never talked to my five roommates except brief whispered hellos as we grabbed showers and wash-ups. My roommates were all quiet, polite, and considerate people. The only minor incident occurred yesterday morning. As I stuffed my pack, my roommate awoke with a shout. Thinking I disturbed him, I apologized. He said something in German, and then said, "nightmare."

The hostel had communal bathrooms and showers. If you don't like meeting people while you're naked in the shower, you should not attempt this hostel thing. But if you don't care or like a little adventure, it is no biggie and actually makes for a good story.

In the mornings, the Parthenon serves free breakfast.

If you're up for adventure in Chicago, this is the place to stay. Here are some pictures.

My Visit to the Windy City Weasels

Next week, I am making a trip to Chicago to see some of my Dip friends and play in Weasel Moot VIII. I expect to get stabbed and totally slaughtered in Chicago as far as the Dip goes, but nevertheless, am anticipating the fun will be huge. I am using this blog post as a means to keep a running log of my trip and to store information I might need to access.

I am trying out taking a backpack to a Chicago youth hostel as an adventure and because the cost of hotels in downtown Chicago is really high. Two nights at a hotel are approximately $400 and that is for a two star.

Today I booked a room through HostelBookers.Com to stay at the Chicago Parthenon Hostel. It is a 8-bed dorm style room at a cost of $34 per night. The Hostel is in a Greek neighborhood. A picture from Google Street view is embedded below.

My friend Jim O'Kelley bought Cubs tickets for Friday afternoon and I am looking forward to going to Wrigley Field again and enjoying a nice afternoon of baseball (Cubs v. Cards). (I am a Braves fan. Baseball is my favorite sport in the summer.)

Afterwards or maybe during the game, I may test out a couple Chicago pale ales. They have some good micro-breweries in the Chicago area.

If the Friday-night, Big-city festivities are not too much for my old bones, I am hoping to wake up and go to the Dip tournament. It starts early on Saturday morning and runs through Sunday.

From the Hostel, it looks like I can catch an El train at the UIC Halstead Station and ride it to the Clark Lake Station. There, I disembark and walk north across the Chicago River and about another two blocks to the fancy Hampton Inn and Suites. There, Weasel Moot happens.

Please comment for any inside Chicago tips about my planned itinerary.  For example, I suspect the Greek restaurants around this hostel are pretty decent and might be worth exploring.

Here is a map to the Dip tourney.
Here is a map to Wrigley from the Hostel. Take blue line to Jackson Blue. Switch to the red line. Ride to Addison.
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Here's a map from the airport to the hostel. Blue line all the way.

In 2013 I named my goat after Stephen Garcia

On April 9, 2013, two baby goats were born on our homestead. As soon as I saw his face, I named one goat after Stephen Garcia.

Garcia is an enigmatic figure. Steve Spurrier's first big-time quarterback recruit, Garcia came to South Carolina from Tampa, Florida, as a brash, long-haired, five-star player. During his career he played extremely well at times. In 2009, he was the starting quarterback when the Gamecocks began their current five game winning streak over Clemson. In 2010, he led the Gamecocks to their first and only SEC East football championship.

However, on October 11, 2011, then Athletic Director Eric Hyman, who had no patience for Garcia's antics, kicked Garcia off the Gamecock football team for a failure to follow, "established guidelines." Garcia Dismissed from Football Team. The sudden and shocking dismissal followed a tumultuous career of highs and lows. The lows in many cases involved bad luck and poor choices associated with Garcia's love of partying. His love of fun did not correlate well with also existing under the media microscope trained on starting SEC quarterbacks.

The Gamecock fanbase was divided over Garcia. Some fans were critical or upset because Garcia's partying allegedly meant that he was unable to meet high expectations associated with his five-star talent. Others were more understanding and sympathetic, recollecting back to their own lives as students at the University of South Carolina. I am one of the latter. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Stephen Garcia's of this world. 

This past week, I was thrilled when Garcia emerged as a celebrity at the unofficial beginning of college football -- SEC Media Days. (SEC Media Days is a huge event for college football fans in the deep south.) A  few weeks before SEC Media Days started, a self-described "non-corporate" sports media site, Saturday Down South, hired Garcia as a reporter/blogger. This was a brilliant PR move by SDS! Garcia made a huge splash at SEC Media Days and the SDS brand is exploding.  

@thejournalist44 We're just getting started... #VivaGarcía #CousinTy @itISwhatITisSG5 @thardin52
— Drew Roberts (@DrewSDS) July 17, 2014

SDS took full advantage of Garcia's celebrity status, and plans a Garcia clothing line to go with his video blogging. As a celebrity-reporter, Garcia already has an avid following. Garcia was interviewed over 150 times by reporters, bloggers, and broadcasters covering SEC Media Days. Seemingly everyone wants a piece of Stephen Garcia.

I need one of these #vivagarcia shirts @JOXRoundtable pic.twitter.com/7IBbZRuJIB
— Keith Wallace (@RKeithWallace) July 15, 2014

@SDS @JOXRoundtable I MUST have one of those! #VivaGarcia
— ✋Anti-Clemson ✋ (@TaterSpeak) July 15, 2014

Second. RT @mtRoth29: @itISwhatITisSG5 how do I get a Viva Garcia shirt?!?
— Dustin Tucker (@dustintucker) July 15, 2014

@itISwhatITisSG5 how long do I have to wait to get one of the #VivaGarcia shirts? Should I just have @BrandiCMills bring me one?
— kbruce (@kbruce) July 16, 2014

I will marry anyone who gets me a viva Garcia tshirt @itISwhatITisSG5 #vivagarcia #hebeatbama
— Caroline Garris (@carolinegarris) July 16, 2014

I am so happy to see Garcia succeed! I named my goat after Garcia more than a year before he burst on the scene again this July.  Thus, with this post, I am claiming my status as the first generation of true Stephen Garcia fans. I am publishing this and tweeting to SDS hoping to snag one of the Viva Garcia T-shirts! 

Besides the fact I am a huge Stephen Garcia fan, here's a clue about why I named my goat Garcia after Stephen Garcia. 

Viva Garcia. Viva Saturday Down South.

#HomesteadProblems What To Do With The Young Roosters

I have a rooster problem and need help. It wouldn't be as urgent a problem except our strong Wyandotte rooster died suddenly leaving his sons to a tyrannical reign over our five hens. Consider my story and please comment so I may find a solution.

Katrina and I have raised chickens here in Tryon, North Carolina, for about two years now.  We have good egg-laying chickens and picked out the best  eggs in our flock to incubate, hatch, and raise. However, the three eggs we hatched (this spring) all were roosters. Two of the roosters are nearly identical twin hybrids except one rooster has golden earrings, and one silver. I chased them into their coop this afternoon and took the picture above. 

As I mentioned, just as these young roosters were starting to crow, their father (a Wyandotte) suddenly died. (We think it might have been a poisonous snake or insect.) That left the hens temporarily in charge until the young hybrid roosters got big.

Their father, the Wyandott rooster who died, was an excellent rooster. He was respectful of the hens, frequently locating food for them and always looking to defend them from harm. He interposed himself between the threat (whether dog or human) and the hens. He once intervened to repel a dog attack, leaving him with a severe wound (from which he recovered). His intervention likely prevented other hens from dying (one died). The young hybrid roosters really had no time to learn discipline from their father.  

We also hatched a pure-bred Black Copper Marans (BCM) egg. This egg came from dear homestead friends who raise BCM chickens. The BCM is a wonderful breed. We have one BCM hen, and she lays the highest quality chocolate colored eggs. Her eggs are easily the most beautiful of all our chickens. Naturally, instead of another egg-laying hen, when this egg hatched we got a third rooster. (See picture.)

The two young hybrid roosters are now dominant and are terrorizing the hens. Neither has yet become dominate over the other. They prefer to exercise their dominion over the hens in tandem. This is weird and brutal. You hear a hen scream, and see the second hybrid rooster hurry so he can join in the action. It is no wonder that most of our hens just hide out in the coop all day long.

Because of the situation, we decided to cull the two hybrid roosters. They are great beautiful roosters, but on balance, we believe the BCM rooster would make a more awesome sire.  

This is all just background for the problem. Ok, here it is. What are your opinions on what we should do with the hybrid roosters?  

1. Should we sell them on craigslist; or 
2. Eat them.

One final factor to consider before you comment. We think the quality of the meat will be excellent. These birds have been raised on non-GMO grain and free range food. We expect the meat to be different from anything you can buy at a grocery store, and we are curious to taste it.