You can barely make it out, however, we're looking at Champaign, Illinois early in the morning while coming home aboard Amtrak's City of New Orleans. Sometimes I like it when the train goes through rain and as of late it seems a train I'm on always goes through rain. Even going to Los Angeles two years ago did my train run into some rain on the way to California!

A meme I found on Instagram . If you want to go somewhere find a way. It could be through a job or just your own hustle. Life's too short to just stay in one place and not see what else is out there!

Last month I was in Detroit, Michigan for a family reunion. Another part of the family tree on this day had a cookout on Belle Isle right in the middle of the Detroit River. Only the second time I have visited this island park and this illustrious and hopefully rebounding city. I noticed Michigan State Police patrolling the grounds as the park itself has been leased to the State of Michigan. Probably a sign of the state of finances in Detroit as it had been administered as a city park. BTW, I just really had to use this snapchat filter!

[ VIDEO ] In this video I'm headed back east to Chicago and traveling on Amtrak's Southwest Chief through the Raton Tunnel . I had some pics of a sign of the Colorado side that shows the elevation. All the same you ride on this stretch and see the signs you might see the elevation of this route and more about the Santa Fe trail . When going through tunnel essentially you are crossing border between New Mexico & Colorado.

[ VIDEO ] Shot this video last Thursday of the Great Hall of Union Station looking down onto the floor of the station from an entrance area upstairs. Shot with a wide-angle Olloclip lens.

Good God yes!

A job is nothing more than a means to an end. There are many ways to make money other than finding a job. Find a way or make a way!

An instagram story I shared during the past winter. I'm thinking it's to time to share an updated shot of the statue of Bob Newhart protraying his character from his self-title classic 1970s sitcom.

A classic car I shot near downtown Chicago during the course of the past week!

A shot I snapped of a bus sometime in June near 95th Street. This is one show you might have seen if you follow The Sixth Ward on instagram . Indian Trails bus picks up passengers at Greyhound 's assigned berth on State Street near CTA's Red Line terminal . This is likely temporary as work at 95th is ongoing!

This is something I posted on instagram a while ago. All very laudable and achievable goals! Don't get into things, don't bring attention to yourself, make money, watch your diet, travel, do something different, and then show up when you get ready!

Well I should see if this work of street art remains in the South Loop. Meanwhile as we endured hot temps during the past couple of weekends at least we can see where we came from. A very cold and snowy past winter in 2018...

The bad news is that in using this snapchat filter I wasn't anywhere near Evanston which is where the purple line runs through even though it does do express on what's formerly called the north side main line of the Chicago L. I snapped this shot at Belmont waiting for a train sometime in May.

Sometime in May snapped these two shots on Snapchat and posted them on Instagram. It made the news here in Chicago that some scaffolding on a building in downtown Chicago fell off and forced the closure of the intersection around Michigan/Randolph. It was scary for many however work was being down to do something about the scaffolding and soon it would be back to normal downtown. First shot I took with a wide-angle Olloclip lens The second shot was taken with a telephoto Olloclip lens you get more of a close-up of the scaffolding that was hanging off this building. If you want to know I was in the Prudential building about to head into the Randolph Street Metra station when I noticed people were pointing this scene out. And of course I noticed the news trucks also! 

This is from my Instagram story on Monday which was a very hot day. I decided being out and about to just sit in an air conditioned great hall at Union Station where I saw a line of Amtrak passengers getting ready to board their train. I really wanted to go with them which is the caption that you saw in this pic. The announced train that was boarding was my favorite train, Southwest Chief . It brings to mind how often I have hung around Union Station. Especially during the period of time that I went to community college in downtown Chicago. I often came here to people watch or eat lunch or occasionally look at the magazines at the convenience stores in the station. This place has changed so much in the ensuing 20 years. Where the passengers wait to board their trains has changes. Also where the passengers pick up their tickets - at least for those who are not computer savvy to print their own tickets at home - has changed. To board a bus to go into downtown Chicago has cha...

[ VIDEO ] Continuing to go through my footage and photos of my 2016 west coast, Las Vegas, and Grand Canyon jaunt. Today I show you some footage I shot of riding through Arizona moving further west through Flagstaff, Arizona and then in the morning Los Angeles! I wish I had kept a journal of this. Even if I didn't blog as it happened it would've been worth sharing in a post with photos (or video) when I ultimately returned to Chicago. My next vacation I promise I'll do much better! Meanwhile enjoy this latest vlog showing southwestern landscapes! 

  I was a late convert to snapchat I always thought it was a tool of the lascivious type. Now that I see this localized filter representing one of Chicago's L routes I've been sold. Unfortunately most of these filters have been used for videos, but this is one of the few that's a photograph. I forget when I snapped this, however, I was waiting for a train at Belmont on the north side going further north.

Another switchup. For now I'll post my favorite memes on Monday. This should be everyone's mindset honestly.Relationships should benefit you whether personal, romantic, family, etc. Hopefully it's not boiled down to materialism or money. Hopefully it's all about positivity and if it's not distraction!

[ VIDEO ] Video shot on the way to Los Angeles, California aboard Amtrak's Southwest Chief in July 2016. A wonderful vacation and get to see a part of the nation I rarely get a chance to see. This footage was probably shot before arriving at La Junta, Colorado which according to the latest Amtrak schedule is a 15 minute stop before ultimately moving through the Raton Pass. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, however, I've decided to start uploading some of the vids shot on my iPhone over the years to my YouTube channel . Hopefully I can update this blog and It's My Mind with more videos I personally shot.

The kids have no idea about the pound sign but know so much about these hashtags on social media!

Shared this collage of pics at 63rd/Halsted on the day of the Grand Opening of Whole Foods Market Englewood. Unfortunately on this day I didn't exactly make it for the official grand opening and never made it inside just as it was about to rain heavily once I arrived. There was a line of customers going into the store which caused me to change my mind as far as shopping in this store on that day. On the other hand it was great to see the excitement and the activity on this day. Things have slowed down since then but a Whole Foods Market in Englewood is a sign that this often beleaguered community on Chicago's south side is on its way back.

This shot was taken sometime in February after the heavy snowfall. A shot on Adams Street of the skyscraper canyon on LaSalle Street. I used an olloclip fisheye lens.

Captain Janeway is the inspiration for this meme on this Friday!

Back in June 2013, I posted this collage of shots from my quick stop to this intersection on Sixth Ward blog . This is basically the heart of Englewood which during much different and better times was a commercial area full of retail that could rival downtown Chicago. Thanks to the shopping mall and other economic effects such as "white flight" the commercial area declined to the point of what you see here. Those storefronts are mostly gone and has been replaced by a community college. Imagine what happened in this area just about 3 years later. Perhaps the commerce will begin to return to this area sooner than many of us will imagine. Think Whole Foods Market opened a store here , a Starbucks and a Chipotle. Unfortunately another building has gone down thanks to fire but that just means another place worth building upon in the future here. Can't wait to show you a similar scene from here back in September 2016. That image was also something posted - though after...

One of my instagram stories walking along Navy Pier sometime in February. Found this sculpture that represents Bob Newhart from his classic 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show where he plays a therapist. Forgot to note there is a sign with a QR code where you can hear Bob's voice. The show itself is set in Chicago with the intro showing scenes of Newhart walking around downtown Chicago. Here's an example. [ VIDEO ]

Posted these collage of pics which I had shared last Wednesday and on a post over at Sixth Ward blog. Three pics - two of bank signs and one of a former grocery store now dollar store. This is to re-enact pics taken back on New Years Eve 2007 . I also shared this on ig which is the post embedded below. A post shared by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on Mar 16, 2018 at 12:51pm PDT

I also plan to post these to Sixth Ward blog at some point in the future. There are some opportunities along this main thorofare on the south side between at least King Drive and State Street. In 2009 there was a infrastructure project where the city had to dig out some sewer lines. 75th was shut down and reopened to great hoopla and was declared a "Black Wall Street". Although it seems that has died down since then I see this area as a center for dining & night life. Feel free to click on the pics for a larger resolution. This pic is a professional building for sale. Earlier in the year there I posted about a listing for this building. Perhaps a place for doctors, lawyers, or business people. Granted I noted that this is a street great for dining & night life however bear in mind this is a street that has a number of retail establishments also.

I finally had an opportunity to somewhat reenact photos taken on New Year's Eve 2007 on 87th Street. Unlike back in 2007 when these shots were taken on a simple point and shoot digital camera, these photos were taken on my iPhone with an olloclip lens. Click on all pics for larger resolution. Across the street is a Family Dollar store. If you can see the grand opening sign near the front entrance don't let that fool you, this particular store has been open since sometime in 2007. A local community organization wrote in their newsletters that year that they wanted a grocery store at this location. Even 10 years later no grocer has stepped forward to turn this back into a grocery store. Before 2007, this space was home to a locally owned Food Basket store.  Moving along on 87th Street, here is a branch of Illinois Service Federal . Earlier in 2007 it was the site of a fatal bank robbery which made the local news. A teller was killed by gunfire during that ...

My old elementary school namesake of another blog of mine back on Christmas Day 2017. Man I miss those days where I had two weeks off for the holidays. As an adult no such luck it's not given one has to request it off and use up vacation days.

Truer wordshave never been spoken. Be careful who you associate with!

An instagram story I posted last week the temperature helped to thaw most of the snow that fell the weekend before. As since it rained on Sunday night, the snow from that weekend is going to wash away. Spring is almost here!

If you will a Star Trek: The Next Generation twist thanks to the android computations of Lt. Commander Data. Valentine's Day was this past Wednesday. Hope everyone had a good one.

Another throwback to my wonderful vacation back in July 2016. Me and my family was at the offices of this Hollywood tour company that contained this antiquated film editing device. It was pretty cool to see this before going on our Hollywood tour that took us through Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California.

Abbott Park in Chicago on Friday during the heavy snowstorm that took place.

[ VIDEO ] Shot this video from along 95th Street between Michigan Ave. & State Street. You will see the CTA terminal at 95th/State. Very heavy snow on this day and this was an all day snowfall! Shot this video on my iPhone with an Olloclip fisheye lens.

Posted this as a story to my ig this past Sunday. An appropriate entry for what should be a regular feature on Friday's just post memes I run across on instagram.

Guess what today is..."Throwback Thursday" In July 2016 took a little trip to the Grand Canyon. My first visit since 1989. I told a little bit about my 2016 trip to the Grand Canyon on my other blog earlier this week.

Snapped this shot in the lobby of the Studio Movie Grill theater at 210 W. 87th Street on Chicago's south side. The theater itself has been around since 1997 and was recently acquired by Studio Movie Grill in 2014. Before 2017 at least the theater never had a kitchen nor an actual bar thanks to the fact that it's a dine-in movie theater. No longer do south side residents have to go far for the amenities that you can get here. Click here for more background .

Or at least I think this was Colorado. Somewhere in the prairie or desert regions of the Southwest, I doubt this was New Mexico. Snapped this shot on Amtrak on my way to Los Angeles.

This could be for 2018, but this could be anytime. Be prepared to let go at any time!

Lake Michigan with ice on top during the cold spell in January 2018. And I like the filter and adjustments made to the lighting and color.

Wiser words have never been spoken by the late great Heath Ledger who played the greatest on-screen Joker of all time!

Open since 1997 owned & managed by Studio Movie Grill since 2014. More pics to come soon!

One of the things that will be posted here memes. Perhaps inspirational perhaps silly just as this one. Perhaps as happened with this one, I'll use filters and add my own two cents to it.

Hopefully first new post out of many to this blog in a few years. It will be mobile now that I have the capability to post pics here and of course some original videos too. Perhaps my skills will advance the more I do this.