You know it's winter in Chicago when...

I'm totally stealing this idea from my friend Missy, who lives overseas and often sends funny "top 5" lists about various things.

You know it's winter in Chicago when...

1. The menu boards and cups at Starbucks change to red
2. It gets dark at 4:30 and feels like the middle of the night by the time you get home from work
3. The lunch line at the soup place is longer than the line at Subway
4. You figure out how many buildings you can cut through to get to your destination rather than walk outdoors
   
5. You turn a corner downtown and are nearly knocked over by an icy blast of wind and...
6. You completely stop caring about what your hair looks like--you need that hat.

Free coffee

It's nice that my Starbucks is across the street from the Starbucks regional corporate office...if they screw up your order (or make you wait forever, as happened to me today), they take it very seriously and give you a coupon for a free drink of your choice. So next time I'm going to order a venti-something-very-complicated with my coupon. Fun. Though it takes away my opportunity to rant about the poor state of customer service in America today.

Weird Heckler

I've had some passersby make some odd (or sometimes, inappropriate) comments before--after all, this is a large city with its share of strange people--but this latest incident takes the cake. I was crossing the street from the train station, and a guy on a bike, wearing some type of uniform, road past. He looked directly at me, grinned, and said, in a loud voice, "DING DING DING DING DING!!!"

Blacksmith emergency?

While on the train, I looked out the window and saw a large box truck with "Emergency Blacksmith Services" on the side. I've never had an emergency that would require the assistance of a blacksmith, and I hope I never do. A quick Google search didn't turn up the company/agency, but I did find a few other bloggers who've seen it. Anyway, it gave me a laugh.

The Wasabi Cure

I've had a cold for almost 2 weeks now...started out really bad and then downgraded to just annoying this week. Then I had some wasabi with my lunch (sushi/maki). I've had it before, and I normally like spicy things, but it was apparently too much, because I started feeling a burning sensation in my nose and sinuses. I started sneezing and coughing, and then---my sinuses became completely clear, more clear than they've been in 2 weeks! Amazing. I wish I'd tried that a long time ago.

Wienermobile!

I was so excited to see the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile the other night. I'd always wanted to ride in it when I was a kid. I actually know someone who got a job in college, driving the Wienermobile around the country. Pretty cool. Or maybe I'm just a little odd.

still sick...

So it's been more than a week and I'm still sick. Ugh. I guess this is just one of those colds that I'll have to wait out. The biggest bummer is that I'd planned to be on vacation right now--made it a 4-day weekend to go camping. Having Monday off will still be nice, though. I thought I'd send a photo of the not-so-scenic view I'd been seeing for much of the week. Enjoy.

Geeks

Another funny overheard conversation on the train this morning...I don't know nearly enough about Star Wars to quote them, but two apparently college-age individuals (a guy and a girl), were debating the finer points of the training process for Jedi knights. It was hilarious because they were talking about it as if it were the subject of one of their classes, or something that was actually real--not an inane trivial aspect of a fictional story. (Apologies to all of the die-hard Star Wars fans out there--but it is fiction.)

Disaster

When I got home yesterday evening, I had been there for a while before I walked into the kitchen...and saw that the freezer door was open. A quick check confirmed that it had apparently been open all day, and everything was completely thawed. Adding to the tragedy was the fact that we still had some Omaha Steaks left. Plus a bunch of salmon, chicken, pork chops, burgers...the popsicles are not a big loss, but my yummy frozen pasta dinners are. My best guess is that it's between $100 and $200 worth of food. I guess this is yet another hazard of shopping at Sam's Club.

There was "meat juice" running all over the floor, too. I was hoping it was a melted fruit bar, but it didn't smell like fruit. Yuck. The liquid had made it all the way across the kitchen floor (8 feet away), via the grout between the ceramic tiles. Eww... A rather unpleasant cleanup job. Oh, well...at least now the floor and the inside of the freezer are clean.

Ugh.