Ouch

Stomach flu.

I'll spare you the pictures.

Fever. Fun stomach sickness stuff.

I'm going back to sleep.

Big ol' bum

Man, I am a big ol' bum. It's been about a week since my last post, and I feel like I haven't done much in that week.

I have. I readied content for publication for the magazine. That's one thing.

I got fairly drunk both weekend nights. That's something. Something I don't do much these days. I still go out and have a good time with the best of 'em, but rarely on consecutive nights.

I guess this is how I used to feel all the time in my cubicle job. Like a worker bee. Like I haven't really accomplished much, except to work all day and drink all night.

Not to trash cubicle jobs. Mine did a lot of good things for me. I just don't really want to go back.

So yeah. I'm a bum. A generally gleeful bum.

And by the way, non Chicagoans. When it's been hovering around 10 degrees for a month, 46 and sunny feels like nirvana.

Buried.

I just took these through my bedroom window. The drifting in front of my apartment isn't as bad as it is down the block where my car is parked. Not that it matters. A foot and a half drift or a three foot drift. Either way, your car is stuck. I hope classes are cancelled tomorrow.

Like 5000 words.

I'm not feeling wordy, so here are some pictures from this week.

My street during the snow:


This is what it did to the roads. It was so cold that road salt wasn't really working. Yikes.


It was a lot nicer today. This is over by DePaul.


They're doing work on the el over there. This one is a pretty cool shot.

And finally, I liked this one. Just wintry.

We lost.

Better luck next year.

Yeesh

The bitter cold is starting to set in. I think we crested 14 today, but that's as high as the temperature is going to get until Tuesday or so. This kind of prolonged frigidity has been rare since I've been in Chicago. It's not the worst thing in the world.

My car is freshly antifreezed (Antifrozen?) and has plenty of gas in the tank, but just taking it around the block was sluggish and awkward. It was like getting a piggy-back ride from an arthritic, complaining old dude... with leather seats.

Still, the car's out front and ready to roll, because I have to be in Naperville at 8:30am. Gross.

Cool picture, though, huh? That was snapped from the Michigan Ave bridge earlier today.

I've got a fevah.

And the only cure is to prattle on about some random stuff.

*I've been taking the train more, as I've been working more downtown. It's nice, in a way. More relaxing than driving, and since my work hours are flexible, I don't worry about delays as much as I used to. I generally travel during off-times, so there are usually plenty of seats. I have to take the Red Line, though, for most of the trip, and it always smells like... various types of human effluence. I prefer the Brown Line, which I take from my house to the Red Line. It's the Cadillac of public transportation.

*This weekend is going to be pretty tame and filled with work. At first, anyway. Sunday night will be Super Bowl havoc, no doubt. Last weekend was better. 

* I had a hankering for Chinese food tonight and the place by me was closed. I got in my car and drove several blocks (lay off, it's cold outside) in crappy traffic, lost my parking space in front of my building and had to walk back in the chilly weather. It was then that I saw a "China Hut" that I had never seen before half a block from my house. I'd walked by the space in the last few days or weeks, and saw that they were working on something in the empty storefront space, but the windows were covered and I didn't care that much. It's my fault for not paying attention.

* I got a new part time job writing press releases. That should be fun.

* Last weekend I also saw Pan's Labyrinth. It's fantastic. Frightening. Pretty. Worth seeing.

And now? Sleep. I've got a big day of mindless work in the frigid cold. Viva Chicago.