Now many of you who have never actually spent a summer in Chicago are probably sitting there wondering what the hell I’m smoking. So let’s look at it logically.

The Size Condition
First of all, to be considered to be the best summer city, let’s define it as large cities with population of 1 million or more, because it would be unfair to compare any city with the amazing summer “towns” or “islands” out there. So for now we’ll eliminate Nantucket, the Vineyard, the Hamptons, etc.

The Brutal Winter Condition
Secondly, to have a fun summer, you need to have a long, cold, miserable winter. Now that eliminates cities with eternal summers like Miami and LA, because they don’t have the winter to polarize the people and events into making summer truly exceptional. They wallow in good weather all year with the smug knowledge and expectation that it will always be like that, so they don’t have any urgency to take advantage of every nice day. This leaves us with large cities north of the Mason-Dixon line (with an imaginary extension of that line to the west coast).

The Proximity Factor
Reviewing the remaining cities in contention: Seattle, Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Washington DC, etc. All of these cities are very close to real desirable summer destinations. Every weekend, Boston Proper is emptied and Route 6 is filled, on the way to the Cape and the Islands. New York City is miserable in the summer, hot, muggy, full of car exhaust, and on the weekends, everyone who’s anyone gets the hell out to the Hamptons or other lesser parts of Long Island. In DC, people head south to the beaches of Virginia or the OBX. Seattle and Philadelphia were only mentioned for their hard winters but are otherwise out of contention.
Chicago, however, is exactly the opposite. With no ocean coast and minimal outside summer destinations, Chicago itself becomes the mecca for Midwestern summer fun. People flock towards the city, not away from it, making the most of it.

The Youth Factor
The streets of Lincoln Park and other adjacent neighborhoods are filled with fun loving, hard drinking, recent Big Ten grads. Lots of them. You’re guaranteed to find

The City Fabric
In addition to being a large city with a brutal winter, having no significant competing summer destinations in a 200 mile radius, and having fun young people, Chicago also delivers an amazing city fabric that would vault it towards the top of any list. Every weekend a different part of the city has a street festival, where a few blocks of the city are closed to make way for live music, art, beer, food, and lots of people in a very merry mood. From Lincoln Park to Old Town to Wrigleyville, you’re sure to find a place to sing along massive 80’s long-haired rock with Headbangers Ball or join local favorites Mike and Joe.
Cubs games are always classic, being in one of the oldest stadiums in baseball, cheering on the perennially mediocre Cubs, downing Old Style, marveling at the city skyline and the passing L’s. And after the games any of the plethora of bars in the vicinity will be packed with more of the same fun loving people. Depending on your taste you can roll Sports Corner for a standard sports bar, High Tops for a sketchy dance club, Bar Celona for a little more trendy, or Moe’s Cantina .
The lakefront never disappoints with plenty of beach volleyball on North Beach, at the foot of the proud skyscrapers, and a convenient, boat shaped Castaway’s at arms reach for a smooth cocktail whenever the sun is just beating down too hard.

If you’re still not convinced, continue reading this blog for more stories to come to help convince you. Or better yet, visit the city yourself and experience it. Have your stories, e-mail them to stories@shipitgear.com , or write your comments below.

We haven’t had any new attacks on American soil since then, but the people of Lebanon, India, Spain, England and others haven’t been so lucky.

Let’s hope our leaders have the wisdom to do what’s right for us now and for our children in the future, and that we can all see above our individual wants for a greater good.

I won’t write about my personal views and tell you what to think, but you better be thinking, reading, learning, keeping an open mind, and helping to determine the course of the future. If we don’t, who will.

They seemed to be passing around what looked like a greeting card, so we guessed one of them was celebrating a birthday. Having a bona fide opera singer among us, we decided they needed a serenade, a loud, obnoxious, conversation-stopping, bar-silencing “Happy Birthday to You”. But instead of just going over directly, we thought it would be fun to build some suspense, so we had our tight-corset-wearing waitress (who was also worth our undivided attention, but we decided on the group over the lone star) drop off a note at their table, straight out of elementary school, something to the effect of “Celebrating a Birthday?, [check yes or no].”

The cheesy note worked, and the girls were giggling and looking around, wondering where it came from. As we waited for the right moment, our plan almost blew up right in front of our face. A group of guys was walking by on their way out, and the girls, thinking they had written the note, started talking to the dudes. They almost stole our set, but their conversation must not have been engaging enough and they were soon dismissed. Time to move in for the kill, before some other douches try to roll our girls again.

We rolled over, sat down, chatted them up, and sang for the birthday girl. Our goals of being obnoxious, making conversation stop and getting everyone in the place to look at us were met. After the informal show, we exchanged several phone numbers, to add to the ever growing, though thoroughly unreliable, list of girls you can call out of desperation when you realize the party you’re throwing is likely to be a sausage fest that would make any Bavarian proud.

They didn’t come to the party, and we never saw the girls again. But it was a more memorable evening than had we just sat around finishing our Buds talking about how sweet we are, how hot girls around are, or how much certain people suck.

Whether or not you respect, admire, loathe, or envy pick up artists, the shit they can pull off and some of their stories are just amazing. From celebrities to home-town honies, the book details the methods, the lifestyle, the people, and the craziness associated with the seduction community. If it were not clearly stated that everything in the book was real, it would instantly be forgotten as a tale too extraordinary to be believable and had 70% of the initial print sent back to be burned by the publisher. But it’s all true, and you laugh out loud, gasp in amazement, and learn some tricks along the way.
The tone for the book is set on the first page, the dedication:

Dedicated to the thousands of people I talked to in bars, clubs, malls, airports, grocery stores, subways, and elevators over the last two years.
If you are reading this, I want you to know that I wasn’t running game on you. I was being sincere. Really. You were different.

The book is also realistic, and is not afraid to show some of the negatives of such a lifestyle and outlook, while highlighting the positives. The ride is awesome. Sometimes you are led to self-pity and humiliation lamenting the fact that you have never had back to back threesomes in consecutive nights, or never picked up a 10 body 10 face blond in a bar full of better looking, richer guys. Sometimes you are validated, by how you’ve always thought of girls, or how you’re just a natural bad ass, pullin off shit guys read books and spent months practicing (such as getting 37 number-closes in a night, making out with a girl after 10 minutes of meeting her, or sitting a table full of girls and making them all love you)

The best part is the protagonist and author. Starting somewhat nerdy, AFC (another fuckin’ chump) as he would say, he emerges as the preeminent pickup artist. It’s not so much about what he learns, but what he was being able to come out and be more confident.

And some of the lines are indeed memorable. Such as the “Jealous girlfriend” opener, asking an innocuous question about a friend whose girlfriend is really jealous and wants to burn his old pictures of her. It’s not lying, it’s flirting, and besides, everyone has a friend in that situation (or similar). The brilliance is that it’s not hitting on them, and you can easily start a conversation. Great.

Even for you girls, before you start thinking this is just another misogynistic post, read the book. Why not understand better what guys are thinking, what games they are playing, to better defend yourself and see through such actions. And you will most likely learn things about yourself and how you act and react that you probably hadn’t thought about.

So read it, live it, learn from it, and roll deep.

Person 1: Want to head down to Wrigley to watch the Cubs beat up on the Royals?
Person 2: Ship it!

an active verb:

“Ship me some red bull”

or a stand alone future participle:

Person 1: You end up getting that girl’s number last night? Person 2: Consider it shipped!

Also, Admiral Awesome, an orginal Ship it! Guy, posted a definition on Urban Dictionary for the world to see.

The Ship it! Lifestyle is not about one particular thing, one way of being. It is about enjoying every aspect of life. It’s about doing new things, being adventurous. Make your own rules, or take our suggestions, or give us suggestions, but either way, live the SHIP IT! Life!

SHIP IT! Attitude

Optimism
The SHIP IT! Attitude introduces a whole new paradigm. Whether it’s a splash of single malt whiskey, 5 ounces of fine red wine, or a brimming pint of lager, the glass is always full! Wherever the line may be, that’s where it was meant to be. So take what you’ve got, and ship it!

Dating
When you’re dating someone, then your girlfriend IS hotter than everyone else’s. And if you don’t think so, it’s time to start wondering why you’re with her. The same applies for you girls. Don’t stick around cause it’s comfortable, scream out how you feel. The one on your arm is the shining star in the room, act like it, believe it, and don’t be afraid to let anyone know.

If you’re not dating anyone, then why be coy? Whether out at a bar, hanging out at a Starbuck’s, or at a rock show, keep your eyes open, and always be ready. And when you make your move, it’s all about confidence. It’s not about asking whether they want to spend the night or give you their number, but about how and when. Show your confidence, sense of humor, and availability. Life’s too short to compromise on any of the three.

Self Confidence
When you roll, roll deep. It’s called self -esteem and self -confidence for a reason, so don’t expect to get it from anyone other than yourself. Have an ego, be self confident, but never arrogant or demeaning.

SHIP IT! Social

Formal Friday
Formal Friday is about changing things up, living it up. Instead of the usual Friday night out, same bar, same routine, try something different. Live the SHIP IT! Lifestyle. You and Gx get together, get dressed up, and go. Doesn’t matter where, that’s how you roll. It’s guaranteed to be a unique experience. Share your stories.

Sunday Funday
The weekend isn’t just about Friday and Saturday. Don’t forget the often overlooked Sunday. No longer just a day of rest, this is to be used and taken advantage of fully, a final push before facing the start of another week.

Gx
Why should the Group of 8 World Summit have all the fun of having their own cool abbreviation. Whether you’re G1 just moved to a new city, rolling deep solo, or G6 with your best buddies on a night in the town, you’re GX!