When is Spring again?

This is a picture of performers at the
Navy Pier Stage in Chicago. There
was so much to do out there, it
seemed every turn we made was yet
another photo opportunity.


Back to work. Yep, my first day back at The Night Division of Street and Sanitation was a long one. 14 hours to be exact. Glad to have a few days off again. It is snowing something fierce out here, and wouldn't ya know it; I'm sick. Nope, no going outside for me, just a trip to WalMart in a pre-purchased WalMart jumpsuit (gotta blend in with the masses). Gotta lay low so I can be better for Friday. Yep Friday, the day my new bike is scheduled to arrive for assembly.

Chanda and I saw Norbit last week. I gotta say, Eddie Murphy has done it again with the laugh out loud comedy. I heard a discussion on NPR regarding heavyset black women taking offense to this movie, saying it plays on a stereo type of their particular situation. I don't think so. I think this was Eddie Murphy putting on a fat suit and making fun of a fictional character. I remember Martin Lawrence, or even Tyler Perry's Madea character getting praise and laughs. I even found a website listing fat suit comedy movies. Besides, I did not hear the cries from heavyset Scotsmen saying that Fat Bastard is playing on a stereotype.

Will real estate prices ever level off out here...?

Trip to Chicago

I spent a lot of time shopping, and I had to include my favorite picture of Chanda. This was the expression I got as we left most stores we visited over the 4 days. I can almost hear her saying, "Just forget it, they don't have what I want."

Chanda and I went to Chicago this last week for a visit of my family and some shopping. I picked the time for us to go, and I picked a bad time as we were stuck in some COLD weather.

Chicago is not as easy to navigate as I remember. I had a lot of driving to do in a short amount of time. It is hard to accomplish all that Chicago has to offer in 4 days. With all the museums and art attractions to chose from, we went to Navy Pier. The reason; Fighter Pilot. Yep, this was a movie that played at the Imax theater. A short story of a pilot on his first venture into Operation Red Flag. I absolutely loved it. It seemed so real, that I looked over at Chanda and she was not even looking because it was too real.

We went to Crobar for a drink; what a waste. I was under the impression that the place was the size of a warehouse with women chained to the ceilings and Dennis Rodman hanging out at the bar. This was not the case. It was very small and over done. We bought one round of drinks ( I think that was like $35 for the three of us) and sat down. As soon as we sat down, we were kicked out of our seats by an employee because a group bought a bottle of Champaign and needed a place to sit. That about summed up the place to me. I imagine the $200 they paid for a bottle and table service justifies the immediate need for seating. As the bottle of champaign looked like the same $13 bottle that is always in large stacks at the front door clearance section of any liquor store.

It was good to see family again. I must say I do miss living so close to them, but I do NOT miss Chicago; not for another year at least.

Purgatory Flats

I went for a trail blaze with Chanda and Cooper today. We drove up to the Purgatory Flats area, and parked at the trail head. The trail itself was snow packed, and required little extra effort. If you stepped off the trail just slightly, you would be up to your waist in snow! Cooper was fearless as usual, chasing anything I threw into the woods. Once back at the car, it took (I think we both agree) maybe two minutes before we could hear him snoring in the back...LOL!

We are both excited for the trip. I have quite a few things planned for us to do, so we are going to have to budget our time as we only have four days to take in the sites, sounds and smells of Chicago.