Five Bucks

The sun is shining, a slight breeze is blowing off the lake and it's in the upper 50s or lower 60s. Springtime has finally come back to Chicago. The weather forecast is for it to get into the upper 80s tomorrow and humid as a sauna. But today we have a beautiful day.

I walked around the neighborhood, did a little shopping. I browsed the used record store for fun. (I'm not in the market for vinyl right now, but I hope to be soon.)

I stopped in at Stella's Diner, my local joint, just to get the flavor of the day. A bowl of soup and a fresh roll, a Diet Coke and a few words with friendly faces. Five dollars is not a lot to keep yourself anchored in your community.

Have a good weekend.

When You Get Out of Bed, Put Some Clothes On

I have decided something needs to be done. To all the jokers out there wearing flannel pyjama pants out to the bars, to run errands, to dinner, etc., I have one thing to say.

Put some fucking pants on, you douchebag.

Pyjama pants are the zubaz of the 21st Century. That's right, Trixie, you may think you're totally cute, but you just look like some white trash Joey Buttafuoco with tits.

I'm Getting the Hang of It

This whole separated thing, I mean. I spend less time feeling sorry for myself. Less time thinking about where I go from here. I'm beginning to find my base.

I am writing more. Not a lot more, but enough that I can say in good conscience that I'm writing. I need to get my camera back in my hand, but that will happen soon enough. If I create enough outside myself, I can begin to rebuild the inside.

I took the bus yesterday and instead of my usual routine, I decided not to plug into my iPhone immediately.  I left the Kindle at home and spent the time roaming the city listening to, looking at, and being attentive to the people around me.

I live in a very entertaining city.  I have to spend more time being part of it than just moving through it as unobtrusively as possible.

Travel Time

It took me 6 hours to get to and from the doctor's office today. 

Ordinarily, I would have driven and it would have taken about 2-2.5 hours.  But my life is not ordinary anymore.  I done screwed that pooch.

You see, your typical city dweller, at least in Chicago, doesn't really have a car.  You don't need one except for rare occasions, like the one above, and a car can be more bother than boon in the City, let me tell you. 

Most Chicagoans would have had the good sense to change doctors when they moved from There to Here.  Get a doc at one of the many fine health care insitutions within the city limits.  But me and Heart Doc, we've been together for over ten years.  If the day comes when I need a new part, he'll be the bone mechanic that installs it.

And so, it took me 6 hours to get to and from the hospital today to see the doctor.  Thank God for my Kindle.  I'll be doing a lot of reading.

Life is Short. Have an Affair

That is the tagline for a website called Ashley Madison that specializes in putting people who are otherwise attached together with other people who are otherwise attached but don't feel that is a binding commitment.  In fact, Ashley Madison guarantees its patrons will successfully find an affair partner.

Now, I'm not at all in a position to throw stones.  I tossed a marriage away over a long-term series of adventures off the ranch.  It's not something I'm proud of, but there is is.  I've finally become convinced it's not the way to go.  Not in time to save a marriage of 24 years to a womaan who had far fewer faults than I and put up with a lot more than I ever had to.  But I have come to understand that affairs are invariably hurtful and destructive and they cause far more trouble down the road than admitting there is a problem in a marriage and either working it out or moving on.

All that is my opinion.  Like I said, I've been there myself.  Your mileage may vary.  I'm sure there are people out there for whom Ashley Madison is a godsend and for whom getting caught only means that one has not been adequately discreet.

But...

Ashley Madison running a Superbowl ad?  Let us pause for a moment to think about what that says about our culture.  Marital fidelity is such a shop-worn concept that we are willing to accept an advertisement in favor of forsaking marital bounds on one of the most widely-watched television events of the year.

The advertiser and the marketing people at Ashley Madison must have felt this would not be viewed as a big deal by the viewing public.  In fact, they must have believed that the ad itself and the buzz caused by it will generate enough new revenue to justify the massive cost of a superbowl spot.

There thinking has to be underlied by a belief that we are a society of cheaters and those who ignore it if not condone it.  Even if the ad was banned and didn't run, the fact that it was considered and hit the web along with all the other Superbowl ads still speaks volumes.

Thunder Snow

I'd never heard of a snow thunderstorm before last night.  But that's what we had.  Lots of thunder, lots of lightning visible once the whiteout broke.  I guess nature never runs out of surprises to throw at us.

It's still snowing off and on.  The cable came back on, finally, though, and my internet access is back. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

White Powder

I'm sitting in my apartment off Lake Michigan in Chicago, looking out my window at ... nothing.  It's just a cloud of white.  The snow is coming down so hard that I can't see the building across the street.  In fact, I can't see the street.

I looked at the Weather Channel app on my iPhone this morning and there was a lakefront flood warning.  This is a little creepy under the best of circumstances (Lake Shore Drive is one of the major traffic arteries in the city); it's really freaky when the lake is frozen over for the first hundred yards or so.  There is this loud craching noise I hear every few minutes or so.  At first I thought it was snow plows, but I heard it too much for that.  My latest theory is that it's the wind hittting the ventilation system shafts or something similar.  At least I hope that's what it is, because the only other explanation that comes to mind is that it's pieces of buildings flying off in the wind.