Hyde Park Memories
So the news about Obama has me reminiscing about Hyde Park, and am intrigued by how familiar much of his experience seems to me -- particularly the combination of Columbia University and U of Chicago's Hyde Park. After a bit of searching, I realized his current house is two blocks north of my friend Chris' old place, where Liz and I had our bachelor/bachelorette party on Halloween 1997. Back then, though, he wasn't living there. From 1993 to 2005, he was in a condo near the lake, which is just around the corner from Shoreland Hall (a U of C dormitory). That was also around the corner from my undergrad senior year apartment (1990-1991), that I shared with Seth, Jeremy, Colleen, and Rick. At that time, though, he was just graduating from Harvard Law School (graduated in '91).

cf. The Chicago Tribune's interactive map of Barack Obama's Chicago

Me
1987-1991: Undergrad at U of Chicago, living in Hyde Park
1991-1993: PhD work at Columbia University, living in Manhattan
1993-1997: Living in Batavia, IL doing PhD work at Fermilab
1997-1998: Move back to Hyde Park with Liz, get PhD in summer '98
1998-2000: Postdoc in Irvine
2000-2008: Father and programmer in Redwood City

Obama
1981-1983: Undergrad at Columbia University
1983-1985: Working in Manhattan
1985-1988: Community organizer, living in Hyde Park
1988-1991: Attending Harvard Law School (summers in Hyde Park)
1993-2005: Lawyer, U of Chicago lecturer, and politician, living in Hyde Park condo

I also remember well the Lab School where his kids have been going. Liz worked in the IT team there, and I was a substitute teacher there in 1997-1998. It's an excellent school.

I put together a Google Map of My Hyde Park (plus some Obama spots). It won't be very meaningful to other people, but kind of exciting to me.