I loved the place so much that I went back again. Unfortunately, it took me forever to write about it, so I might be a bit fuzzy on the details. More exploration to come! Here are some photos of the abandoned church, as well as explanation.

The rooms in the church show so much decay, it’s incredible. This particular room was part of the “school” section of the building. The ceiling had fallen in and there was a single chair left. Further in, evidence of looters. The ceilings were torn out and stripped of all valuable materials.

I climbed to the top of the church as high as I could go and came upon a pile of cinderblocks against the wall. Luckily, they had been securely placed (or frozen), so they held my weight without collapsing. I lifted myself up through a hole in the roof onto a rusty old catwalk and found myself at the top of the steeple in the main sanctuary area (more photos of that on the post before this one). It was pretty high up and I was nervous, so I got down there pretty quickly. For good measure, Elise took a photo of me from the bottom. You can see my face in the center of the photo to the right.

Some of the rooms had some pretty interesting graffiti in them.

The floors in some of the rooms were completely covered in a layer of ice. Others were covered ankle deep with clothes and toys.

Finally, we ventured down into the basement. We hadn’t thought of bringing flashlights, so we were navigating using the light of our cell phones. It was an ominous place. I found a piano from the 1800’s, but couldn’t get a shot of it due to the poor lighting. I was able to get a quick shot of a hole in the ceiling and a blindingly lit opening created by what seems to be someone pounding away at the bricks.

The last place we visited seemed to be where the fire started - an abandoned bookstore in the storefront area  of the church. There were so many neat things there. We found a poster announcing the original release of Stephen King’s “Carrie” as well as a giant poster of “The Fonz” and a Mork and Mindy book. I also found a stack of resumes from the 70’s. I might post them - important information blanked out - in the future.

More exploration to come.

CMC was shut down in the 70’s due to a lack of attendance and suffered a fire in ‘97 (thanks to Corby for the correction!). To this day,  stands in the streets of Gary, Indiana as a relic of the past - the vast sanctuary, shadowy hallways, and decaying innards a testament to the ravages of time.

After about three minutes of driving around a bit aimlessly, I saw a spire above a few old looking buildings about a street away from me. I navigated my way over and found myself at the base of one of the biggest and most beautiful abandoned buildings that I’d ever seen. The second I ducked into a side door, I knew that I’d found it. To the left, a stage littered with all sorts of clothing and wreckage. To the right, a small room leading into a huge sanctuary.

I left after snapping a few photos and returned later with Elise. Here are the results:

I plan on getting back there as soon as possible to take more photos - we had to give up eventually because the sun was quickly fading and our fingers were completely numb from the cold. I plan on exploring more of Gary with my  camera soon in the future, as well as the surrounding areas.

Technorati Tags: urban exploration,abandoned,adventure,building,decay,photography,color,snow,rubble

Hey. Remember this guy?

Yup. That’s Jack Thompson. Remember the last time he came around? Virginia Tech. Where did he go? Oh yeah, he lost interest in the VT after it was found that the shooter had played little or no video games. Well, guess what folks, in the wake of the NIU shootings, He’s back. To Jack, a new high-profile tragedy involving college kids is another chance to capitalize on other people’s loss.

Here’s what he recently faxed to NIU, typos and all (This lawyer don’t need no spell checkin’)

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request production of copies of all documents that reveal Steven Kazmierczak’s play of violent video games, including but not limited to the use of his computer to play Counter-Strike, which he apparently, according to the New York Post, used to rehearse for his Valentine’s Day Massacre at NIU.

The killers in the two worst school massacres in history—in Erfurt, Germanay, and at Virginia Tech University—similarly trained on Counter-Strike to rehearse for their killing sprees.

If I am not provided with this information, I shall bring a civil action to secure these documents.

So basically, to this man, a horrible tragedy caused by an obviously deranged guy can be boiled down to a single. freaking. videogame. Not the intricacies of human nature, not obvious mental imbalance, not society, not bad parenting, but a video game. Not to mention a video game that millions of people play daily with no bad side effects at all. Hilarious (and sad) how he literally lost all interest in the VT shootings as soon as it was revealed that the shooter rarely or never played video games.

On another note, Jack obviously knows nothing about gaming. Counter Strike? You mean the 6 year old squad based game where everyone runs at 20 miles per hour and can jump 5 feet in the air? Realistic my ass.

Thus ends a disjointed and badly written rant on one small aspect of the wide reach of this man’s arrogance and idiocy. Way to capitalize on other people’s loss, jerk.

I have a feeling that someone dislikes Valentine’s day. I took this in Lowell.

Love is in the air. Whoooo.

Less info, more pictures. I hear that’s what people like. Here are some photos of awesome cars. More will follow in the upcoming days.

I took tons more. Weird thing I just noticed though, what the heck is with the color orange? Is it the new thing or something?

I have no idea what type of luck I have. It’s just bad. I was on my way back home to get ready for another job and I hear a low rumbling in the back of my car. I worry about it for a few seconds, thinking it might be a developing flat, but then I shrug it off pretty quickly. Bad idea. A minute later BLAM - the back right side of my car lowers suddenly and I pull off into an almost nonexistant shoulder.

Yup. My tire exploded. I felt a bit unnerved by the short distance between me and many of the oncoming cars (some feet away) so I called “Hoosier Helpers” to give me a hand. Unfortunately, I’d lost my wheel lock, so the guy works at it for an hour and finally gives up. Keep in mind how bitter cold it was out there…probably in the negatives with wind chill. Finally I have to call a tow truck, pay him $150, and get a lift to some local used tire store run by the only “Southern Folk” in Gary, Indiana apparently. A few seconds of work and my lock was off (turns out it just needed a few gentle turns to finally come loose). At least they gave me a good price on a tire (and they were pretty nice to boot).

I guess the day turned out ok because I only missed one of four jobs and have had stuff flowing in for the last few days. I just can’t believe how crazy it was.

There are few things as beautiful and poetic as spam mail:

Have you ever heard that you that you can change your male aggregate length?
Women will drive crazy with you.
Dont miss this opportunity to lengthen your jang length.
It is time to consider your male machine length.

Or click on this picture to see the whole shebang:

I couldn’t stop laughing after I read this. So badly translated. And what in god’s name does “jang” mean?

As many PSP enthusiasts known, 3.80M33 is on its way and will hopefully hit very soon. As a gamer in general, as well as a blogger, I’ve found my way into the official Dark Alex irc and I’ll be waiting there (hopefully) until the CFW is released. At that moment, I’ll post the direct link here (if I can grab it in time). Post your thoughts on the news here!

Edit: I missed it, but it’s out!  http://dax.st/380_m33.rar

Just wanted to let any random readers know that I’m in the process of changing hosting. Apparently, Yurx, my old host, is in a crazy state of turmoil and I’m not sure if it’ll be lasting too long.

If everything goes how I’d like it to, the transition should be flawless and easy. Chances are that it won’t be. I’ll be in South Dakota visiting family for the next four days, so I’ll try my hardest to fix up whatever problems might arise from there (if the NAM servers catch up as quickly as tomorrow, hopefully all of the bugs will be out before I leave).

After only a short month with the best cat ever, we took him to the vet where he was diagnosed with some sort of growth and swelling in his Kidneys that would ultimately end in a painful death. We had to put him to sleep today. I already miss him.