Weather, Wait Wait, et al.
I think that today, on the occaision of the first snow in Chicagoland (though I doubt any of it will stick) would be an appropriate time to reflect on the weather.

Having spent the first 18 years of my life in New England, moving to Chicago 6 years ago did not daunt me, weatherwise. Everyone kept saying "it's so awful! so cold! so hot! so windy!"
Some corrections: yes, it is windy. but less windy than Boston. It's called "the windy city" because of the politics of the democratic convention some years ago. Not because of the winds. Yes, it can get cold. But only a few degrees, on average, colder than most parts of New England. Yes, it gets hot. But only for a few weeks, and again, not that much hotter than, say, Washington DC.
However, there is one big difference: It can be 70 degrees one day (like, say last Monday) and then FREEZING COLD a day or two later. like the rest of this week, when it didn't get above 40. It might even get warm again. It might not, but you never know.
And, of course, if you are by the lake all bets are off...
The moral being, the weather is not as bad as everyone says


This weeks Wait Wait, don't tell me!" is unbelievably funny. Lots of riffs on the enormous grant and what that will mean to NPR (for example, fake pitches for McDonald's 5 times in one sentence), and of course the usual mockery of the weeks news. My favorite had to do with what Henry the 8th (I am I am) would think of the religion he founded and its new acceptance of homosexuality, given its impact on, for example, marriage. I laughed so hard I...yeah.
In addition, someone I know (the U of C visual arts department TD) was a contestant. Which was really funny. He introduced himself as a set designer in Chicago, to which Peter Segal responded with "and what's your day job?". He admitted to working at the U of C.

Not much else to say. I'm in a good mood. I'm going to see, dear god, Tuesday's with Morrie tonight. But hey.
- posted by Heidi @ 10:38 AM