This collection of entries is from January 21, 2003.
Oh! I forgot! My former coworker Peggy had a baby! (You remember Peg - I've got some pictures of her and the family at Comiskey Park last year on Elvis night and the year before.) She and Rob and daughter Madison welcomed little Michael Jacob on the 12th. Congrats, Peg! Great name!!!
You know, there's one specific aspect of Chicago weather that I hate. Cold. And in Chicago, cold is COLD and it's usually "raised up a couple of notches" (as Emeril would say) (actually it would be "lowered") by the damn wind. It was 6 degrees again this morning, 17 degrees now, and this is the way it's going to be all week. I just want to see it get up into the high 20's to low 30's every once in a while. It eases the pain of the suffering. Now, on the plus-side this year, we haven't got much snow (knock on wood). I don't mind snow if it's on the warm-side of the temperature range around here. In fact, I really liked last year, when about seems like three different times, we would get dumped-on to the tune of about a foot of snow and within days the temperatures were in the 40's and it would melt. That I like. Also, we're in the weird time of year when it seems to stay light longer in the day, but the sun doesn't seem to be rising any earlier in the morning. Sunlight = good.
Last week on the Travel Channel was another Vegas Week. The Travel Channel goes to Las Vegas every couple of months to shoot things there, and I swear that what they're doing is just shooting items for the network and not for any specific show. the only reason I say this is because I keep seeing the same footage in different shows, so either it's the same producer or they're sharing the footage. At any rate, I miss going there. Because of the unemployment situation, we haven't been to Las Vegas since 2001 and for us, that's the longest we've been away from that town since the two of us started going in 1994. I just miss the travel. I miss the excitement of that town. I don't have to gamble there - I could always just go to a riverboat around here if I just wanted to gamble. I just like the town, I can't help it. Sometimes I feel like it's calling me back (sort of like the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor's Authority commercials, with the guy that sounds like Don Rickles on the phone.. "Vegas calling...").