Glurk

It's days like this I really miss the Princess Mom.

Sunday Schedule

CHICAGO WEATHER: Temps topping 90 degrees in many areas; showers expected after 3PM

Why in the world am I fighting turning the A/C on??? It's freaking HAWT, not to mention humid with a capital HOOOO.

Yesterday and the day before were gorgeous -- cool, sunny, breezy. Perfect sleeping weather. I want that back right now.

(Yes, I'm still sick and unreasonable. Why do you ask?)

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A Chicago Bucket List? I can check 48 items. To personalize that lislt I'd take a few things off (e.g., Bike the Drive) and add a few things to balance (e.g., an architectural walking tour). I guess I'd better get moving!
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Quote of the Day:

"A patriotic song is an emotion." -- Irving Berlin

Yes, indeed, it is.

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The Princess Mom met Mrs. Schmich at the Pearly Gates and they are exchanging travel stories right about now, I'm thinking.

There comes a time in most lives when travel truly is impossible. But that time may not be as soon as you imagine. If you can, give your parents the gift of travel. It will be a gift to yourself.

Yes. I can't imagine not having taken all the wonderful trips I took with the Princess Mom when neither my brother or sister would go.

I still miss my own mom a lot... and my heart goes out to columnist Mary Schmich. It doesn't matter how old they are, how sick they are, how much their memory has slipped, how ready they are to go -- it's still a punch in the gut.

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Popcorn Shrimp (because it's infectious):

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More fun headlines today:

Soldier/politicians facing increased scrutiny
Congressional challenger blasts 'hair-splitting' over military record

Here's what I think the simple response should be: "Oh? And tell me about your military service, sir/ma'am. Which branch of the military? How many tours of duty? Yes, I thought so. *sniff*"

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Best post title in a long, long time.

Changing Lanes

Overnight I've gone from sounding more than a bit like Mrs. Huffnagle in St. Elsewhere... to Peter Brady in this classic gem:

From pharingytis to laryngitis... just one adventure after another.

Lovely.

Drive-Bys

Ear Worm and Great Big Grin of the Day:

Kids and a sprinkler and a sunny day -- always a recipe for fun.

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Button-Buster of the Day:

"Holy Cow! I just got assigned my first attempted murder case. Craziness."

That's my kid -- taking names and kicking ass. I am so proud of her!

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Mayor Shortshanks proposes bar carts at the gates of O'Hare and Midway and extending all terminal restaurants with bar service and the carts to 24 hour days, making this brilliant proposal on the same day a Chicago-bound flight is diverted to Denver to rid itself of a drunken and disorderly passenger. (Ah, well -- they'll be somebody else's nightmare, not ours. La la la!)

I won't list all the obvious arguments against this -- others will do it better.

I will note, however, that I expect the airlines will be thrilled with the possibility of losing in flight sales and control over what and how much a flyer is served if you can buy a six pack or slam a bunch of shots, or dump half a dozen cocktails into the empty water bottle you've brought along for just that purpose and carry them right onto the plane, just like you can bottled water or soda?

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Speaking of genius-level thought processes, Speaker Pelosi says the way to create jobs is to keep paying people unemployment.

Right.

We've seen article after article here in Illinois and also news from Detroit showing that people refuse to take jobs that pay near the same rate as their unemployment benefit because it's more convenient to just sit home and wait for more and let the government pay them to do it. Then we get peeved when illegal aliens take those same jobs that those living off the government teat are turning up their noses at.

Explain to me how this is creating jobs??? Ooo! Except for the government jobs created to deal with all those unemployment benefits.

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Why I read Ken Levine... and all his comments? First go read Ken's post on how the National Anthem should be sung. It's a thing of absolute beauty.

Then turn your attention to commenter Bevo at that same post, who displays all that is wrong in higher education today and pile on, please.

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Giggle of the Day:

Beginning to end, it's a scream!
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Update: I actually have some appetite today and managed to eat half a sandwich and most of a cup of soup at Panera (I had to walk the couple of blocks to my local grocery store because I had nothing in the house to eat... but since I've eaten almost nothing since Friday night, I stopped there first lest I end up with the shakes). This feels huge. My tastebuds and appetite are completely verfarkled, and normal favorites make me blanch, while things I haven't contemplated eating in years -- liked canned pears, icy cold from the fridge -- have a lot of appeal. Really plain stuff is okay. Turkey. White bread. Mayonnaise. I went a little wild and bought a box of pasta salad mix. Since I was picking so much high food value items, I tossed in a box of all fruit popsicles. That should hold me for the next few days.

I'm still coughing, hacking and wheezing up half a gallon of big green and yellow loogies a day, and my ribs are feeling it. That's on the negative side. On the positive, I'm less achy and a little more focused.

Baby steps, folks. I'm making baby steps.

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One More Thing:

I agree with most people that the vuvuzela is one of the more pernicious assaults on the ears I've heard in a long, long time... which is exactly why I donated money to pay for this creative use of the same:

Adam Quirk, the founder of Wreck & Salvage art video collection, started a campaign on kickstarter.com, raising dough to play 100 vuvuzelas outside BP Headquarters in London for an entire day in an attempt to encourage the company to get a move on cleaning up the oil spill.

Yes, he's met his goal, but why stop at 100?

Let 'em literally hear how pissed we are!

Padiddle*

I've had at least one eye open for the better part of the day -- a grand improvement over the past four. I'm still an irritable, uncomfortable, phlegmy, miserable mess with a barking cough and the attention span of a gnat, but that's what makes the intartubes wonderful -- they're as good taken in small bites as they are in big gulps.
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I suspect that even if I was feeling better, this would have given me a major case of the sniffles:

Who: Joe Brottman, 15, of Palatine, founded the Taps Brigade, a group of volunteer high school trumpeters who play taps, the haunting, 24-note bugle call played at military funerals and ceremonies.

What he does: Brottman, a sophomore honor roll student, is an award-winning trumpet player in the marching and jazz bands at Fremd High School in Palatine. He formed the nonprofit brigade after he learned that because there are so few buglers left in the military, a recording of taps is very often played at military funerals instead of being performed live.

"It's more respectful for the veterans and more meaningful for the families to have someone playing taps for them," said Brottman.

Go read the rest your own self. Even Donald Mills would approve.
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As far as I'm concerned, this is a novel... and probably valid... argument... but ballsy:

The gay soldiers arrested outside the White House protesting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will annouce today that they're demanding that President Obama testify in their trial on minor civil disobedience charges.

Their novel argument: Obama himself called on gay rights advocates to pressure him, so they were just following orders.

It's about time the Big Cheese learned to measure twice and cut once with his words.
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Three quick laughs... and if it made me actually crack a smile today, I know it'll give you a giggle:

• Expert riposte.
• How much do you want to bet this brain trust is a gold digger in training?
• The song I'm adopting as my personal anthem, given my own Facebook experience (NSFW):

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Quote of the Day:

"Can you imagine, Obama as President under Acidblogging? Heh." -- Jay Solo (from my comments)

Yes I can, actually. He'd have formed his own legion of pissed off folks, but I suspect he'd have preferred to call it a Whiskey Rebellion... or a Sweet Tea Party.
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Headline News:

'Tessellation' starts Thursday at Subway, avoiding gaps and overlaps

Elisson, my cheese-loving friend? I expect at least a 100 word story!
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That's it. I'm pooped.
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*What? You don't know what a padiddle is?

Yakking Up...

... hairballs? No. Actually, it's more like coughing up escargot -- same size, color and texture.



Never say I didn't offer up an accurate description.

Engine Knock

Yup, that's me. I'm out of commission for the week, according to Dr. Hot Stuff. Bleah.