You remember Blod...a rather farming cello with a really cad hairbutt...

This is how the Capitol Steps describes our esteemed ex-governor, who today delivered a heartbreaking media disappointment when he announced that he won't be offering testimony in his own corruption trial.  I mean, it was bad enough that the prosecution rested after ten days, rather than their previously promised four months, but today's announcement destroys our chance to witness what could have been the greatest comedic spectacle in the history of...well, possibly of the entire universe, I think.  Certainly the best television, at least.

Oh well, it's been pure delight while it's lasted.  I mean, how often do you get quotes from the bench like, "Counselor, it appears that your client may not be fully in touch with reality."?  (To say nothing of a politician announcing in a press conference, "I talk too much.")  Our local broadcasters, including the NPR affiliate, abandoned all pretense of impartiality on this matter months ago.  The only real downside is that it's made the machinations of the current campaign season look downright dull by comparison, something that should never happen in Illinois.

It's a welcome grace that I'm a proud charter member of the Agnostic-Nihilist Party, or I bet my habit of living in states with the very best spectator politics wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable.

Locale Meme

At Wende's request:  

 

10 Things I Like About Where I Live

1. Short commute. Like, 3 miles, most of it through a county forest preserve.  My last 3.5 years in Massachusetts, I drove a minimum of 40 minutes each way (and there were evil school buses that had to stop at the end of every. single. driveway. because the New English can't be bothered to build sidewalks, because building a sidewalk where there previously was none would be changing something, and changing stuff is BAD.  Though you'd think than in a region where almost every home's yard features sizable bedrock outcroppings, they'd be looking for something to do with all their sand and gravel.)  Anyhow, I realize 40-60 minutes isn't all that bad compared to what some people do every day, but I find the quality of life effects enormous.
   
   
2. Looking at the City. Chicago is unspeakably gorgeous. Particularly the parts that Mayor Daley isn't trying to pretend don't exist, but even the slums are vaguely pretty in their own way. 
   
   
3. Pleasantness. Living here as someone who's fundamentally northeastern, I can't help but reflect on the climatic differences.  Cultural shorthand has it that people in the northeast are mean, and people in the midwest are nice. It's an observation more accurate than its simplicity suggests, though the wording is off.  The best descriptor I've found for folk around here is "pleasant" - it's all about behaving oneself in such a way that meaningless, everyday interactions aren't made unecessarily combative.  Frankly, I really wouldn't like Minnesota nice or Southern friendly, but Chicagoland pleasant is just right.
   
   An aside: It's so cute the way local transplants from Iowa and Minnesota seriously think Chicagoans are the big, gruff, mean city folk.
    
4. Public Libraries.  By and large, they're quite good.  Illinois is known for allegedly funding them well. 
   
   
5. Snow removal.  It's not that they do it particularly well, it's just that Massachusetts does it incredibly badly, and I really do feel a lot safer now in that respect. 
   
   
6. Public Radio pledge drives.  They have attitude.
    
   
7. Friends.  This has been an issue for me in the past.  But here there are people I like who like me and who actually have room for new friends, and it's a really good thing.
   
   
8. Mass Transit.  Ok, this is a mixed bag.  The locals think the CTA is hell itself, but they don't know what they're talking about.  It's like hearing the British complain about their national rail - ok, so, no, it's not West Germany, but has anybody heard of Amtrak?  I have a standing disagreement with a friend who grew up here and went to school in Boston and who insists that the T is divine and the El is gross.  I don't know how a right thinking person with a full set of faculties could arrive at this judgment, but if there's one thing anybody should retain from an elite eastern education, it's an understanding of the futility of arguing with an MIT grad. 
   
   While the Boston T does have the advantage of serving what's really quite a small city, the four lines are basically incompatible and were only connected as a distant afterthought, and the trains make this horrible noise that always leaves you thinking they're going to explode in the station and kill everyone.  El trains rumble pleasantly the way trains should, and the stations are named in a manner that hints at their location - calling the stop on Washington Street, "Washington Street" is an innovation that would never occur to Bostonians. There's occasional transparency in T-stop nomenclature - having a station named "Airport" is handy when you're trying to get out of town - but it takes extensive insider knowledge to figure out why there's a subway stop called "Wonderland."
   
   
9. Orthogonality. Yes, this is another Boston-backlash issue.  It's not that I think roads should be perpendicular on some abstract moral grounds, but I've really gotten hooked on this whole knowing-how-to-get-places thing.  Did I mention we have street signs here, too?  It's like Shangri-La, but with potholes.
   
   
10. Spectator politics.  If I were inclined to, or even capable of, feeling attached to or invested in my community, it would be depressing.  But I've long since accepted that I wasn't socialized for that, so it's fun to watch.  Yes, there's ex-gov Blago - anybody can refer to an elected official as a narcissistic sociopath, but how often do you get to be clinically accurate while doing it? - but my soft spot is for our County President, who in a meeting last month reportedly dissolved into tears while begging the board not to rescind last year's sales tax increase.  He lost the battle, by the way, so our local combined sales tax was reduced back to "only" 10.75%. 

Suburban Thrills

So, yesterday, Wende posed the question, "What's the most provocative item you read in the news today?" I figured I should probably read some news - I'd been at a client's industrial facility all day, away from devices of communication.

As it turned out, there was news indeed.

Just after last Christmas, a bank in a neighboring suburb was robbed by a fellow who turned out to be a career criminal with a 20+ year record. Mid-morning yesterday, he was being transported to a local courthouse when he overpowered and disarmed his guards. This despite being what the Tribune described as, "white, approximatley 5'6", 150 pounds, and bald."

He took their clothes and cash, and forced them to take him to a Meijer's store (akin to Super Wal-Mart) near the courthouse, where he apparently bought a shirt and stole a car. I'd love to understand the personal moral code which allows for grand theft auto, but not shoplifting. He drove to a neighboring town, stole another car, drove to a third town, and was spotted near his one-time residence. Which happens to be about a mile from my residence. Which is why it caught my eye.

A manhunt ensued with, as Wende put it, "police with big guns roaming suburban apartment complexes!" Cops from six towns (eventually more), state police, county sheriffs, and U.S. Marshals. Very big guns, in several senses of the phrase.

All this would merely be interesting, and perhaps a little unsettling, except for what happened later.

I went out to dinner with a friend after work, and driving home around 9:00, heard on the radio that the hunt was still on. As I approached my own neighborhood, I noticed rather a lot of flashing lights. There were multiple emergency vehicles on every visible side street. I'm sure I saw at least 20 within a couple of small residential blocks. And there were TV news vans.

It seemed a good idea to keep the windows closed last night.

Now, I honestly have no idea what that was all about. I've searched every news outlet and tried to check the local police blotter, and I can't figure it out. I even watched the 9:00 news, and it takes a lot to get me to watch local TV news broadcasts. If it had anything to do with Mr. Fugitive, it must have been a small enough part of a very large undertaking to not make it into the published accounts.

At any rate, very early this morning, he carjacked a woman a couple towns over, then he drove to yet another town and robbed a bank he had robbed at least once previously - not the one from Christmas, a different one from some other occasion - and eventually found himself being chased by police. The chase ended when Mr. Fugitive ran into a car that had pulled over and stopped because of the sirens.

Who said the suburbs are boring?

Miscellanea. Cold Miscellanea.

1. It's cold, and getting colder. There was a noticeable temperature drop over the 45 minutes I was out for lunch. (Lunch was soup. Warm, but not terribly filling, to be honest.) Forecast high tomorrow is -3F.

The cat is also cold, and has been experimenting with the best ways to take advantage of baseboard heat.

No, my Christmas tree isn't still up, I took that last month. Speaking of Christmas, she was thrilled to discover this newfangled gadget called a fireplace while at my parents' house in NY.

There actually is a fire in there, you just can't see it. Her latest move has been attempting to share my pajamas in the middle of the night. It may be kitty sweater time.

2. In other news, I have done a little bit of Making of Stuff. Scarves, specifically.

These were done as a part of the Special Olympics Scarf Project, in which knitters and crocheters were invited to make scarves in the official Special Olympics logo colors for competitors to wear during the 2009 opening ceremonies. I have a weird fascination with charity crafting, despite being skeptical of the underlying philosophy (the issue of the man-hours vs. significance of accomplishment). Regardless, I like them occasionally as an excuse to try new colorways and/or patterns. For anyone interested in the technical, the one on the lower left is hdc 2 strands; the bottom right is sc back loop alternating colors (reversible crochet? nifty). The top, inexplicably, is granny squares. I hate making granny squares, and I hate SuperSaver (the authorized yarn - it scratches and squeaks), so I don't know what I thought I'd enjoy about the two in combination.

3. And speaking of scarves, I got something immensely awesome from friends for Christmas. No photo, because it doesn't really look like anything, but it's this. A microwaveable scarf. Detatchable grain-filled inserts that heat up and keep you toasty. It's getting heavy use this week. Combined with this - another Christmas present and really, really, Really, REALLY fabulous - I can be in my own rather icy little heaven.

Kind of damp

Slosh, slosh, slosh goes Chicago.

Far from hurricane conditions, but this isn't what I expected to see out my kitchen window first thing Saturday morning.



And then it rained nonstop for the rest of the weekend. Heaven knows there are worse conditions elsewhere right now, but I'm still thankful to only have suffered minor inseepage (I'm at garden level). It did go down enough to get out and about, but some of my immediately local roads were significantly worse. And other parts of the metro area worse still (hint: I live miles from the nearest river, in a river-rich region).

Counting down the seconds until Mayor Daley calls for the CTA to introduce ferry service between O'Hare and the Loop.

.

I'm ok! Really I am!

Alana just went rifling for me in the comments of my last post, which I now realize was quite some time ago. I guess I couldn't think of anything to talk about. Or I was trying to be witty about Cosmo and failing, so kept mum*. Or reflecting that a career change is a very cool souvenir to bring home from a destination like the Central Valley**. Or making up for neglecting my book blog. Or rejoicing in the fact that I don't have a garden, and therefore have no need for GT***. But since I've been incommunicado for almost as long as Beth, here's...

What Mella did during SCB's Staycation

• Lived through phenomenal electrical storms (part of the same system that has Iowa immersed), which knocked out power to my office building so that we all had to stay home for a day.
  
  
• Inadvertently destroyed, then painstakingly (emphasis on pains) restored, my wireless connection.
  
  
• Took care of a boatload of personal administrative tasks that have been niggling at me for weeks.
  
  
• Got all my curtains pressed.
  
  
• Laundry.
  
  
• Met up with my Boston friends P and A, who were in town for a wedding. Got all the dirt (and it was good) about the old workplace from P. Went to Buckingham Fountain and Millennium Park and the Art Institute.
  
  
• Somehow - I still don't understand how, because there shouldn't have been anything wrong with the shoes I was wearing - gave myself massive blisters on the soles of both feet while hanging out with P and A. Could barely stand for two days. Raided podiatry section of Walgreens.
  
  
• Called my dad on Father's Day. Discussed the fact that the seemingly infinite supply of Baby Boomers will keep a stranglehold on culture until they croak, by which time their grandchildren will be in early middle age, thus reducing the long-term functionality of my generation to, "spawn-and-die." Also discussed the proper role of generational niche ministry within the context of a robust ecclesiology. Also discussed golf - specifically, Tiger driving into ice plant.
  
  
• Called in sick with blisters, because I literally couldn't walk. Felt very stupid. Considered, and decided against, embellishing excuse for the sake of believability. Only got slightly laughed at by all the distance runners with whom I work.
  
  
• Worked at kitchen table all day with feet on ice. Left window open to enjoy pleasant breeze. Developed allergic reaction to grass.
  
  
• Used up two boxes of Kleenex.
  
  
• Finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife for a book club meeting that I couldn't attend because I couldn't walk.
  
  
• Went to visit S. Compared and contrasted the relative merits of Facebook, Cubs Fans, Science Fiction, Electrical Engineers, Cats, Church Mission Statements, and Boys. Also played "My Condo Neighbor is Creepier than Yours." Also ate pizza.
  
  
• Accidentally redirected delivery of my neighbor's UPS package to my office (the notice was left on my door by mistake, and I'm expecting a package, so I assumed it was for me and scheduled redelivery online). Confused receptionist to no end, since no one with his name works here and it was delivered to our office address and company by name, and contained automotive parts, which have nothing to do with our business and are not what I ordered anyway.

Mella's Plans for the Weekend

• Fix something I messed up at work. Meh - as things that need fixing go, it's not that bad, but still.
  
  
• Put things away (I'm so bad at this).
  
  
• Hang newly-pressed curtains.
  
  
• Give the cat a pedicure.
  
  
• Finalize plans for Austin trip.
  
  
• Shop for ingredients to make punch for a wedding shower/reception I'm co-hosting Sunday afternoon. Be thankful that a teetotaling subculture makes such endeavors far less expensive than they might otherwise be.
  
  
• Oh - also buy gift for same event. Almost forgot.

*I haven't ruled out trying again.
**That part of the country has always depressed me in an overly-reminiscent-of-Steinbeck sort of way. When I see dead grass, my subconscious reacts with a terror of dying in existential misery after a lifetime of futile hard labor. Sorry, Wende.
***I hate dirt. I don't even like repotting my houseplants.

I know the secret!

The secret to fashion retail karma, it seems, is complaining loudly to everyone who will listen about how impossible it is to find anything to buy. In addition to you lovely ladies, I also whined about outfitting myself for the sauna wedding to two Boston friends on the phone, several people at Sunday lunch, all my coworkers, and my mother.

After work today I stopped at Carson's (it's right across the street...) for no discernible reason - I'd found no luck there last week, but I guess I didn't feel like going straight home, and, oddly, didn't have any reading material to take to the Starbuck's Conference Center. Turns out there was a whole section of dresses there I'd missed the first time around (not surprising in the particular layout of that store, which I don't visit often), and I found something there with an actual potential to work. Such a special occasion that you get an actual modeled photo.

Got the shoes there too, on steep discount. It doesn't look like the sort of thing that would be so hard to find, does it? I think it could stand to be accessorized with some color - any ideas?

I'll probably stop in at State Street Macy's/Field's* and big Carson's when I'm downtown for the book fair this weekend, but given that I found exactly one realistic possibility out of two dozen stores out this way, I'm not holding my breath for anything exciting.

*Check out the interior pics in that link. It really still looks like that, so it's always worth a visit when you're in the neighborhood. Marshall Field's was bought by Federated a couple years ago, so it's now a Macy's - meaning that Chicago's flagship Macy's has a ceiling by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

You know your suburb has prioritized business development when...

1. The local Starbucks has couches, usually occupied by sleeping guys in suits.

2. Same Starbucks also has its own conference room.

Messy Season*

The month became February, and just as suddenly, the snow transformed from "white and cold" to "wet, heavy, icy, sludgy, driving, persistent." The kind of snow that actually hurts when it blows into your ears.

From a distance, evil snow looks a lot like nice snow.

Oh well...only three more months of winter, right?


*You know, like dry season, monsoon season, hurricane season...

Mini-Loop

Chicagoans cautiously emerged from our mufflers this weekend, thankful for a break from last week's rather extraordinary temperatures. Saturday was dark and drizzly, and I made a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. It's probably my favorite of Chicago's larger attractions. And "larger" is the operative word. Everything in this town is big, yes, but it's not every museum that has a German U-Boat tucked into a corner of the basement...

And a Boeing 727 hanging from the ceiling.

It also does a better job than most science museums I've seen of focusing its exhibits on what science actually is and how science is actually done. All with that Chicago sense of humor:

Exhibit topics include: cardiovascular disease, elemental chemistry, the human brain, How Indoor Plumbing Works, genetics, digital imaging, the global petrochemical industry, networking, farming technology, environmental technology*, and naval technology (a three-century retrospective).

There's also alternative energy...

A nod to Wisconsin...

And, somewhat unexpectedly, a very elaborate dollhouse. (There was no hope of getting decent photos of that, so I didn't try. But check it out.)

Miniatures are a subtheme, and even show up in the chemistry exhibit.

I love this sort of thing. ChemE joy.
For the record, it's a model of an industrial beverage still, c. 1930.

Greatly expanded since my last visit, and continuing with the miniatures, is the train exhibit.

Ok, so this one isn't miniature...


But these are! Where are they going?

Chicago, where else?


...with a few stops along the way...


...including, apparently, some imaginary town in Iowa that still gets decent Amtrak service.

Where are they all coming from? Why, right around the corner...

...Seattle!

Apparently, the freight trains (the ones not hauling tractors to Prairie Town and Passenger Service, IA) are carrying...wait for it...model train supplies for retail in the Windy City.

In the foreground, you can see the commuter rail heading downtown from Park Ridge...


...though the folks who live in Wrigleyville can just take the El...


...to their twelve hours of drudgery in the (eight-foot-tall) Sears Tower.

Fortunately, real-life O'Hare flight paths don't come quite that close to downtown.

*What? Atmospheric chemistry is a science? I thought it was a political platform! Seriously, though, it's an excellent technical exhibit. Air pollution is my gig in the way value investing is Wende's, and I'm won over by any presentation of my field as an actual technical specialty, not just a lodestar for social indignation among people with an ambiguous notion of some uniform substance called "pollution." Pay no attention to the jaded environmental professional behind the curtain.

Bury Me in the Color of Lake Michigan, Please.

Plus, a few more shots of the Windy City today.