Hockey from the 300 level

No, those are not ants or a jumbled up bubble hockey game. Those are
real live professional athletes, and most of them are safely over 6
feet tall. For example, when I am standing in the first row of seats,
the players down on the ice are still taller than I am. From up here,
however, they look like the mini mites I watched play earlier in the
evening. And these aren't even the cheap seats!

Nachos galore!

I'm at the United Center for a Blackhawks game. I arrived early to
watch a friend's son play in the junior hawks game and now I'm roaming
around the empty stadium with my work bag, which apparently is
contraband. I've been told to take it out to the car. One problem, I
took public transportation. I need to get to my seat and stash it
underneath. On the way, I saw this huge pile of nachos at one of the
stands. Looks like they are ready for the rush of fans. I better get a
lousy stadium beer and go hide my bag. Glad I smuggled in the other
half of my Jimmy Johns sandwich that was left over from lunch.

Who says there ain't no such thing as a free lunch?

I am at a free showing (premiere, no less) of the new Sherlock Holmes
movie with Robert Downey jr and Jude Law - for visa card holders. Not
only did I get a ticket, but I also got a free bag of popcorn and a
coke. What's the catch? I don't know, yet. Parking is $16, but that is
standard. I'm going with it. If there is some random charge on my
card later, I'll contest it.

The down side to the Christmas tree

The tree smells great. And it looks great. But these pesky little
needles are not so great. I feel like I can't get them all picked up.
Some day in the summer I'll be pulling cat fur balls out from under
the couch and they will be coated with pine needles. It's a small
price to pay for the fresh tree smell and the lighted tree in the
window when I get home at night.

The finished product - upside down magic bars

All this baking and blogging has tired me out. Here is a picture of
the finished product. You be the judge - upside down? Mini
marshmallows? Maybe I should go with something that doesn't require
layering, just mixing - like chocolate chip cookies. I'm good at
baking those, thanks to years of practice with my mom and a few secret
adjustments to the tollhouse recipe. But really, how can you go wrong
with butter, chocolate, coconut and sugary milk? You just can't.

Magic bars - you know you love them!

So I had to make some holiday cookies for my work party tomorrow. I
fell back on my old stand-by of Magic Bars. I make these every year.
You know the drill - crushed Graham crackers, chocolate chips,
condensed milk, and coconut. I carefully crushed the Graham crackers,
measured everything, and put together two pans. (see the photo). I
then had to lick the condensed milk off the label so I could read the
oven temperature and baking time from the recipe on the label. And I
made a critical discovery. I've been making these for 10 years,
basically from memory. Corrupted memory, it turns out. I've been
layering the ingredients incorrectly! Okay, I'm not a total dunce, I
get the butter and Graham crackers in first. But then I add the chips
and coconut, and top the whole thing off with condensed milk. Wrong!
The condensed milk is supposed to go on top of the Graham crackers.
What do they know. Try it my way, you might like it.

Note that I also tried adding mini marshmallows in one half of one
pan. I'll let you know how that works, but I'm thinking it was a
mistake.

Chicken, anyone? Or an apartment?

I drive by this place almost weekly and it always intrigues me. I think what this means is that you can get massive quantities of
chicken parts here for your next party. Alternatively, if you want to
bring in your free range grass fed chickens, they will slaughter them
for you. (When I say it like that, I might have to take a break from
chicken for a while.) And, if you are looking for a place to live,
there is an apartment right upstairs. That sounds appealing - hordes
of live chickens downstairs waiting to be slaughtered, possibly
running around with their heads cut off, and you upstairs chillaxin
with some friends over a nice bottle of wine. Sign me up!

I <3 Which 'wich

One of my favorite things about visiting Nashville is going to Which
'wich. For the uninitiated, this is a chain sandwich shop that makes
hot sandwiches. Why is this special, you ask. Good question. A few
reasons. First, you get to mark your order on a little brown paper bag
with sharpie markers. (I also <3 sharpie markers.) Second, they clip
your bag to a clothesline sort of contraption so, if you draw
something on the back side of the bag, you can watch your order as it
progresses down the line. Third, the sandwiches are good. And,
finally, the ice machine makes nice little ice cubes that I enjoy.
This last requirement makes or breaks the place, in my opinion. I hope
the Chicago 'wich has the same ice maker!! If so, I'll see you there
for lunch when it opens.

Trike?

I wish I were a Cook County sheriff. This is part Harley and part Wall-
E. The keys were in it and I was tempted to go for a joy ride, until
I realized that I was in a state building and that I'd likely end up
in a state prison (rather than a federal pen). If you still need to
buy me a Christmas present, I'll take one of these.

The busiest day of the year for the U.S. Post office

'tis the season! Today was the last day for mailing things at the
post office for guaranteed delivery in time for Christmas. As you can
see, a number of Chicagoans were willing to brave long lines to snail
mail items to loved ones across the country. I like to skip the
holiday rush and opt for New Year's cards. This is also convenient for
the procrastinator in me. This picture does not do the line justice -
it snakes around inside for about 50 people in addition to the 25-30
who were lined up outside. I wonder if they are familiar with
stamps.com or ordering on the Internet and shipping it directly. Bah,
humbug!

KC

I have not given the cat enough air time on the blog. Perhaps it is
because she is smarter than I am. Or at least I thought so until she
got herself into this tight spot last night. KC was "helping" me fold
and put away my laundry. She climbed into my drawer and nearly got
shut in. I'm sure she would have objected quite vociferously if I had
not noticed her. I like her help with the chores, but wish she could
learn something more useful, like emptying her litter box.

The decorated tree

The perfect little tree is now decorated!! It resembles the Charlie
Brown tree in one way - it already has dropped a ton of needles! Inde
destroyed a bunch of ornaments a few years ago when she grabbed the
tree, pulled it over and dragged it into the kitchen. She is not the
only bad pet. I have caught KC climbing up the trunk of trees in the
past. I hope this cute little tree survives. I also hope Santa can
squeeze himself down the tiny newfangled gas chimney and leave some
cool gifts - like a winning lottery ticket or a new job. Happy holidays!

This ain't no Charlie Brown tree!

I went out running this morning and came home to a Christmas tree!!
What a nice surprise! The house always smells great with a real live
tree instead of those plastic colorful fake trees that I have featured
in previous posts. Anyone want to string cranberries and popcorn?

Graffiti limbo

First, I have to admit that I borrowed from the lyrics of one of my
favorite folk singers for the title to this post. Anyone know the song
or artist?

Second, I had nothing to do with this graffiti. Normally I have very
low tolerance for graffiti, sort of like littering with markers or
spray paint, but this amused me. He does look a little uncomfortable.
But the ad really reminds me of the scene from Home for the Holidays
where Holly Hunter is sitting in her parents' car after they pick her
up from the airport and she looks over to another car and sees a man
rolling his eyes as his parents bore him with tales of the small
hometown he left behind. Hmmmm ... Holly Hunter's character has moved
to Chicago. It's all coming together.

Time for the biggest loser

Okay, I admit it, I like to watch the Biggest Loser. And when I do, I
either exercise (not so much lately) or eat ice cream and drink beer.
As you can see, tonight I opted for the latter. It was the finale, so
I needed to have a large Ommegang double chocolate indulgence for the
double episode. Yummy. And I found some of those pounds the
contestants lost. I think it has something to do with the basic laws
of physics or something - what gets lost must get found. If that is
true, then have you seen my black north face scarf? And when did my
blog turn into an add for north face? I hope you all enjoyed the
season finale. The contestants looked great and it motivated me to
stay in shape . . . Starting tomorrow. Oh, yeah, and I think I'm going
to run another marathon. I just learned that Rudy, one of the
contestants on tbl, finished the tbl marathon in 5 hours twelve
minutes and change. I finished a marathon, but only a half hour ahead
of Rudy. I have some training to do. Tomorrow. See you out there in
the snow.

It's raining snowballs

We are getting the first real snowstorm of the season tonight. We had
a little snow this morning when I woke up, but I still went for a
short and sort of slow run - wearing the equivalent of tire chains on
my sneakers. Then, on the commute home, it was raining giant
snowballs. What was I thinking with this Chicago move? So then I did
some home snow removal and my jacket got wet all the way through. In
about 15 minutes. Why does anyone live here? I don't have any idea.
There is nothing within a four hour drive, there were only three days
this summer over 90 degrees, the lake never warmed up, and nobody here
can drive. Oh, yeah, and it's going to be 9 degrees on Thursday
morning. Sign me up!

Morning commute

Seriously, folks, don't Hipsters get cold? And check out the shoes -
we are expecting the first significant snowfall of the season today. I
can barely walk in my north face boots.

Establishment clause, anyone?

I think I read something about this in law school. This is the
Christmas tree in the state building where the appellate courts are
located. Oh, who cares, it's pretty.

Snow?

I guess I should be thankful that our first snowfall was at the end of
November, but I was still not prepared for it. The summer was a total
disappointment - the lake never got warm enough to go in it.
September was bad. October was horrific - cold and rainy every day.
November was awesome - I ran three weekends in shorts and a t-shirt.
But December and winter finally are here. This weekend - it snowed
(with a "dusting" of accumulation) and I ran on Saturday morning at
the balmy temperature of 27 degrees (17 with the wind chill). I guess
I should quit my complaining and get ready for the next six months.
Philly, anyone? Just a little bit warmer there ...

Reader response required -- free association

Please help me settle a score with a few friends.  Over frozen custard this evening at a local establishment that is the favorite of one of my loyal readers ("check"), I discussed the possibility of taking another self-discovery trip after my current job winds down at the end of this month.  I suggested that perhaps I would go live on a commune in some warmer climate.  After much laughter from my loyal readers, they asked me to describe the commune I thought I would find both welcoming and acceptable.  So, I started throwing out words that came to mind.  What I would like from you, without thinking too much, is to add the word that completes this list: old, crunchy, hairy, lesbian and _______.  What goes in the blank?  I look forward to your responses.