Verdancy, part deux... and Chicago!

Ever since watching Hot Shots Part Deux, I've love using part deux in appropriate situations. This post just might fill that bill. The original Verdancy was posted just a little less than two years ago. That one was about our yard, mainly, and so is this one, partly.

Very hot weather is predicted for the coming weekend. By hot, I don't mean so in a comparative sense. I mean a literal hot, Hot, HOT. We've enjoyed some very nice, mild 60's (~15-21C) the past week or so, but starting Friday temperatures are supposed to jump into the 90's to low 100's (32-40C). That's a huge 24-hour shift. Massive. Hyuge, even.

To give you an idea of how busy work has been: I started this blog ten days ago. It's officially Father's Day, and I will be going in to work today (Sunday) to finish up what I could not get to on Saturday. Jennifer and I have also been busy- and railfans might appreciate this. Jennifer has jury duty soon, so we did a "trial" run (pun intended) down to the Daley Center last week.

To be completely honest, I'm a Chicago boy when it comes to mass transit: drop me somewhere in Chicago- anywhere- and I can find my way back to my childhood home.

The 'burbs, though: BLECH!

In Chicago, when I get on a bus on Central Ave., that bus follows Central Ave. until Central Ave. ends. Not so in the 'burbs: a bus "route" may travel all points of the compass and several streets before you get to your destination. Off of the top of my head, this is the ONLY one of four things that Chicago does right.  Mussolini seems to have also gotten this right, according to legend.

The other three things that Chicago does right?

Hot dogs! Growing up in the South, my lovely bride had NO idea that hot dogs were an art form. Chicago-style dogs are truly an art form, and poppyseed bun or plain, if you've never experienced one, you need to.

Pizza. To be honest, I'm not quite sure as which variety of pizza qualifies as "Chicago-style" (I'm thinking its thin crust), but whatever it is, Chicago is a great pizza town. Like most Chicago-born pizza aficionados, I've experienced many, many varieties of pizza, and I've gotta say I love most all of them.

The Grid System (of streets). Chicago confuses Jennifer. She grew up in the South (Texas and Louisiana) where they do not apparently have grids or defined neighborhoods. Its really quite simple, but rather than typing a whole bunch, I found a neat website that explains it quite well.

Finally, I thought it would be fun to throw in some video I took of, and from, the L. Well, I thought I did, anyway. Here's a shot from the platform looking towards the city. I'm disappointed that the video didn't work.

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.