I'm getting tired of this... I'm just not sure of what yet...

At one time late yesterday, I had heard a forecast that said the upper end of the snowfall could be as much as 13 inches.

This morning... MAYBE it was 3"-5".. and the alerts were all cancelled... and the storm was over.

So... am I more tired and fed up about:

The snow storms piling-up the snow in big batches...

The roller coaster temperatures that never seem to get warm enough but sure seem to plummet at the drop of a hat...

The weathercritters who just can't get it right... they can predict the temperatures pretty well... but snowfall? When? Were? How much? NO WAY...

Still another storm rollls in later today with possibilities of up to 9 inches of snow...

I am SO over this...

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Another trip into the city for the annual Academy Awards party at B&B's.

I just didn't like the evening... wait... that came out wrong... I loved being with our friends and having a good time...

It's just the Red Carpet.. and the Awards... meh

No stellar dresses... STUPID people doing the coverage of the Red Carpet....and with SO many "dark" movies nominated, it was just kind of depressing, and since we don't see those kind of movies, we had no vested interest with anything in the show.

On top of that, no contest this year at the party because "because Michael always wins!!"

Well... not ALWAYS...

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This is so cool. I don't know if a national chain of movie theaters has ever done this before....

Today, starting at 11am, select AMC theaters will start a marathon of movies nominated for Best Picture at tomorrow's Academy Awards.

Michael Clayton 11:00 a.m.
There Will Be Blood 1:20 p.m.
Atonement 4:20 p.m.
Juno 7:00 p.m.
No Country for Old Men 9:00 p.m.

For $30, you get a free large popcorn with unlimited refills all day. Oh, and there's this "collectible pass" for the event.

I think this would be SO COOL... but... if I have problems sitting through one movie, how am I going to sit for 5 movies over 12 hours?

Well, the military launched that missile and destroyed the spy satellite that I talked about last week. So, gee.. don't have to worry about that deadly hyrdazine anymore...

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Was at the Chicago Wolves game tonight (more on that later) but I HAD to step outside the building to take a look at something - a lunar eclipse, the last one until December 2010 (there is a possibility of a lunar eclipse happening every six months, though it may not be visible from you location, but there's something about the plane of the orbits being off so it won't happen for a while)

Additional cool thing - to the left of the moon was Saturn and sort of above was the star Regulus (a second magnitude star also known as Alpha Leonis approximately 77.5 light years away in the constellation Leo, if you must know).

I caught it just after it was the peak ( I had forgotten about it during the game). The eclipse started at 7:45 pm local, ended at 11:09 local with the peak at 9:01 local.

OK... sunset.. creating long shadows over my front lawn...

Does NOT make the situation more... ummm... "palatable"

As my memory seems to have been going haywire over the past months, it's nice to find things that jog the memory.

I was reading this post I wrote back toward the end of 2005 that referenced a list (and VOLUMINOUS comments) at Eric Zorn's blog at the Tribune of stores, shops, buildings, institutions that have left the Chicago landscape. (I think this was in reaction to MARSHAL FIELD'S leaving the landscape, a move that I STILL think is WRONG... but... I digress...)

I was SHOCKED to find out that people are STILL commenting on that blog entry for things that they remember that are no longer around...

But what a GREAT way to reminisce about ... "the old days"...

... and, are you old if you talk about "the old days"?

Oh god...

The sun is out.... I open the drapes on our patio door...

and there it is...

They've laid waste to the backyard too...

My blood is boiling...

OK... I'm am SO NOT HAPPY... and I'm not sure how to go about talking about this, but let me summarize:

Neighbor. 2 Golden Retrievers. Neighbor lets the dogs out, while he either stays inside the house or stands in the garage and smokes.

Dogs do not stay on his property - they go to the neighboring properties...

... and proceed to... ummm... dump... their waste.

Neighbor calls dogs back inside...

DOES NOT CLEANUP AFTER THE DOGS. EVER.

So, during the snowfall season... they've been crapping on my lawn... and now that the snow has melted a bit... I can see them... everywhere...

We've had this issue for years now. During the summer, our lawn mowing service would come weekly to mow... and ... well... that would.. umm... dissipate the issue...

We've had TruGreen ChemLawn come out to fertilize and treat the lawn and leave us messages that we should clean-up after our dog.

OUR DOG.

Do you have any idea how ANGRY I am right now?

OK... saw this today... and it just FEELS like it's something out of The Onion... but... could it be true?

Somebody is floating the idea of a reality show that can actually produce - as a winner - an Olympian.

So... what kind of sport would work for that? How about... curling!

Now, it has turned into a American Idol reality thing with five male and five female slots to produce the entries to the Olympic tryouts.

The cool thing, that was unfortunately false, is that at one time they were talking about "closet curlers" that are rockstars would be involved - specifically John Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen. How cool would that have been? How cool would it have been for those guys to expose more people to the sport?

You know... Valentine's day.. make me think of roses... and just how damn confusing they are when you try to buy flowers for someone and have to be worried about the damn color of the rose so that the gift doesn't get misconstrued... and not only color, but how many as well. It's not like everybody agrees on all the colors, too. It's insane.

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It's Valentine's Day... meh.

But I thought it was interesting to hear about what I would think would be another "shot through the heart" that is being planned, though not from cupid... or Bon Jovi for that matter.

There's this Spy Satellite (identified only as USA 193) that was launched on December 14th, 2006 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on a Delta II rocket. Shortly after reaching obit, ground controllers lost the ability to control the satellite, and have never regained it.

So, this thing is in this decaying orbit. Since there was never any contact, 1,000 pounds of the maneuvering fuel (hydrazine) is still onboard. So, the United States is concerned that this huge thing is not going to burn-up completely when it finally dives into the atmosphere. The hydrazine is deadly, so the United States is going to shoot down the satellite first. With an anti-ballistic missile. To make sure the tank gets ruptured and the hydrazine gets dissipated.

Let's look at a few things. this satellite is about 5,000 pounds. The government is worried about the debris. Larger things have re-entered with little damage, like Mir (clocking in at about 274,000 lbs). Even Skylab, that had major pieces survive didn't do that much damage (about 169,000 pounds).

I'd like to believe the government is worried about the hydrazine, but... come on... truthfully... don't you think it's because they're worried key technology components may survive reentry and be recovered by other unnamed countries? I mean... hello!... Spy satellite!

Still... kinda cool if they could actually hit the thing.

I knew there was more snow this season...

Snowfall this season up through today: 45.2 inches

Snow up to this date last year? 13.5 inches.

No, I'm not playing the card game. I'm excited about watching the 132nd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden on TV again... because of a 3-year-old 15" beagle named Uno. Well, actually he's Champion K-Run's Park Me In First, but he won Best In Show!

I guess this was a big show this year - 2627 entries in 169 breeds & varieties from 48 states, the District of Columbia and at least six countries, including four new breeds (the Plott, the HUGE Tibetan mastiff, the Swedish vallhund and the Beauceron).

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w00T! Single game tickets went on sale this morning for the White Sox for Season Ticket Holders (not he general public. I love having the opportunity to get at tickets ahead of everyone else) . We grabbed-up tickets to opening day (since our package doesn't include it) and grabbed tickets for Elvis night in August.

I'm feeling better - it's feeling more like spring again... except for that snow and below zero temperatures...

-6°F (about -21.11°C)... -30°F wind chill (that's about -34.44°C for you international types)

It's becoming obvious to me that I've accepted the past mild winters as normal, because this winter is just weighing hard on me...

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I have to go to the doctor every three months for a slew of things... primarily, because of my Type 2 Diabetes I have to check my Hb_A1c (or glycosylated hemoglobin) along with cholesterol and liver functions, along with blood pressure (all of which I have meds to take).

So, a fasting blood draw every three months. Not a big deal, but I still have this needle phobia (you think it would get better over time, especially if i am actually injecting myself every night). Maybe it's this whole idea of having something shoved in a vein... I don't know...

But today was really odd...

I'm sitting there, the nurse has me all prepped to do "the stick". I always look away, because... well.. it's easier to cope, I suppose.

Next thing I know, she's changing sample tubes.. she had stuck me and I NEVER felt it AT ALL. I commented on it, congratulated her and I was just generally surprised, perhaps shocked. Don't get me wrong - I still hate blood draws, but this was a pleasant experience... today.

The snowstorm is actually here... heard a rumor that the building actually shutdown around noon. I looked out the window and saw the frontloader moving snow piles around and the parking lot was empty. My office is more of a branch office - nobody is really here to say go home.. and since my manager is actually located across the country, I had to contact her to let her know about the local weather. Needless to say, I left a few hours early.

The trip home was terrible, but actually moved better than I had anticipated, but it was still a struggle to get there.

Perhaps this will be the biggest one of the season... maybe...

Who's bright idea was it to schedule Super Tuesday on the same day as Mardi Gras?

I mean... there's too much scheduled today... it's Fat Tuesday... which really is Mardi Gras... which is the last day of Carnival... (that started on Twelfth Night, which is the 12th day after Christmas, January 6, or as the dictionary says "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking"... which also marked the end of a winter festival that started on All Hallows (also known as All Saints) Eve — now more commonly known as Halloween)... but it's also Shrove Tuesday... but that's also Pancake Day? ... and then, in Chicago, it's Pączki Day... but that's only for Chicago, Detroit, Hamtramck, Milwaukee, and South Bend... because it's really supposed to be on Tłusty Czwartek or Fat Thursday which would have been last Thursday... which is also Fettdonnerstag, or Schmutziger Donnerstag in Germany... or Giovedì Grasso in Italy... and all of this is because of Ash Wednesday tomorrow...

THERE IS JUST TOO MUCH HAPPENING WITH TODAY...

... and I'm supposed to go out and vote today?

But... it's only a Primary election... and I don't exercise my right to vote on those days... because it requires me to officially declare a party and I refuse to do that. I always rather vote for a candidate that I believe in regardless of the party affiliation.

I'm just looking forward to the end of all the damn political advertising... at least until we do this all again later this year - for "real".

Wow... the fog rolled in today.. and it's sticking around... and it's not our usual fog - this one is thick. Tonight the visibility went down to one-tenth of a mile.

I love fog. I love walking in it. And, if the traffic is light, I love driving in it. I loved driving home after work tonight.

It was thick, but it didn't feel dangerous... and it felt great.

Went to my sister's house to have an impromptu Super Bowl viewing party. What was REALLY great was that B&B were also invited, and picked-up (and dropped-off) my mom. It was great having them at Diane's.

Now, you know, I love watching the game. There is just so much surrounding it, between the pomp and circumstance of a championship sporting event and then there's the great commercials that are rolled-out just for that event. That means that you really can't take much of a break from watching anything. But that also means that everything could be interrupted with talk... usually loud... at any time. And my family is all about the socializing and between B&B.. and Jack.. and my mom... well, there was a lot that was going on.

I feel that I REALLY never heard the game. I'm pretty sure i saw most of the plays (and I have to tell you, this was a wonderful game to watch... and I found out I was the only Patriots fan in the house...) Really really enjoyable game.. close, well fought, well played. And you gotta love a game - inside a dome (well, the roof was closed) - on grass.

OK... favorite commercials? Bud takes them all again, with FedEx Carrier Pigeons being up there. Oh, and screaming animals in a Bridgestone tire commercial (even a little screaming... grasshopper?)

The surprise of the evening? It was that while we were enjoying the game, eating pulled pork from Sweet Baby Ray's... it was snowing the whole time and we didn't know.

There was 3 inches of snow on my car when we were getting ready to leave. The streets were plowed in places. The expressways were not really clear. A treacherous, slow drive home - I felt the back end slide-out once... made be back off a bit and I wasn't doing anything bad.

Update: You know, I can't complain with this year's USA Today Ad Meter rankings of this year's commercials.

Update: It's official.. .and WOW. An estimated 97.5 million viewers watched the game. It was the second-most watched television program of all time, behind the 1983 finale of "M*A*S*H," which was viewed by 106 million people. The previous most-watched Bowl, with 94.1 million viewers, was Dallas vs. Pittsburgh in 1996. The game scored a 37.6 rating among adults 18 to 49, making it the highest-rated Super Bowl in that target demographic in eight years. The 1996 Super Bowl remains the highest rated with a 41.2 rating.

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Over 6 inches as of this morning. Our area was supposed to be around 4". Somebody didn't see this coming. The snow distribution is nothing like they said it would be. At least it doesn't feel like it to me.

At least the traffic was really light. People must be staying home, schools must be closed.

A good thing, too, since the roads weren't cleared. The plows couldn't keep up overnight.