There are worse things they could do

News from my neighborhood: The Southside location of Rizzo's is gone! The venerable Italian restaurant has vacated its digs on Chippewa, and a new Turkish/Mediterranean joint is about to open in its place (which, I was sad to learn today, was not the former location of a Parkmoor drive-in, as I'd previously thought). The new restaurant is called Aya Sofia, and I'm pretty curious about it. I haven't seen any advance press, though. Anyone got any inside info or an opening date?

Proud member of AAA, ADD and OCD

Wow, it's been a while. I've been traveling and researching and photographing all kinds of stuff as diligently as ever, but when I buzzed through several unfamiliar Midwestern cities in one day and only had time to take a few pictures, I started debating with myself about whether to bother posting my findings until I had more background information. While it's fine to present a photo and say "look at this rusty old neon sign at a bar in Dubuque," part of me wants to know how old it is, and what the bar's like inside, before I go slappin' these pictures up on the Web. Otherwise, all you're getting is a bunch of pictures and no text. But I guess my Comprehensive Review Of Every Cool Thing I've Ever Seen Anywhere can wait for a real website (as opposed to a blog), so I can add to it incrementally as information arrives, rather than chronologically. In the meantime, I've got a lotta stuff to dump on you from a trip to northeastern Iowa. But not right now.