2005-03-29 - 3:08 p.m.

Observations

Yesterday, at the Orange Line Halsted stop, I was waiting for the southbound Halsted bus. When it pulled in, the sign above the windshield that usually reads, "8 HALSTED/79th" instead was "8 HAHALSTED." I enjoyed that. Ha! Halsted!

A lady, probably in her 40s and wearing a business suit with a above-the-knee skirt, was rollerblading around the Loop eating ice cream today. The forecast was for 50s near the lake and 70s inland. Just in case you're not familiar with Chicago, the Loop is most definitely by the lake, and it's in the mid-50s right now.

A horde (probably 7 or 8) of giggly teenage girls were waiting for the Blue Line in the Clark/Lake subway stop this morning. They got on the first car (the one that also houses the train operator) and stood right between the doors so no one could get on or off without pushing through them. One stop later, the train operator left the train standing, came through the door to his compartment, and loudly said, "If you want to stand, stand away from the doors. You are preventing this train from proceeding." Rock on, Mr. Train Operator. I agree.

My favorite security guards (the ones I've written about before who think I'm an EVIL TERRORIST plotting the downfall of government buildings in Chicago using my empty glass bottle) have started being a bit nicer. Maybe it's because I'm very careful to avoid the glass bottles, but every time I go through the metal detector and it beeps, the guy just makes me show my ankles (do they have major switchblade issues? Do I have a gun in there? My pants aren't baggy enough for guns!) and lets me go. No stern lecture or checking my pockets or anything. I had better go knock on some wood...

A man who I often see riding the aforementioned Halsted bus reminds me of Cotton from "King of the Hill." If you know the show, you're probably thinking I mean that he's a jerk misogynist with a way younger wife. No, I mean that he doesn't have much in the way of legs. He has normal sized feet and everything else (that I can see. I'm not speculating here), but his legs are each under a foot long. I'm fascinated by it because I always thought the Cotton's shinlessness (how cool is that word I just made up?) was entirely created by the show -- no one would take the middle of the legs out and sew the feet back on. But I guess I was wrong. I don't know how he lost the middle part of his legs, so I guess it could have been a birth defect or something, but it just seems so strange that his feet would still be completely normal looking. He gets on the bus about a block from where I get off, so sadly I don't see much chance of my making friends with him and finding out.

Speaking of making friends on the bus -- a girl who often gets on at the same stop as I do in the morning was talking to me quite a bit today. I enjoy it, but I'm never sure where the line gets drawn. We ended up standing next to each other on the bus, so we were continuing our conversation that we had been having at the stop. But when do you let the conversation naturally die? And is it rude then to get off without saying goodbye? And what if we both get off at the Orange Line -- do we continue our conversation all the way to the Loop? What if I want to read? These are the mini-traumas that make up my day.

Cubs Injury Fest '05 is continuing to progress. Still no sign of Prior or Wood in the near future, Borowski's out (and while I still haven't decided if he's right for the closer role, he's got to be better than Hawkins), Ryan Dempster is turning into a MEGA-version of Sergio Mitre (I was tuning it out as a method of self-preservation, but I think I heard something about his giving up 8 runs in 2 innings recently), and so on. My optimisitic streak, though, is thinking that maybe on April 2nd they'll hold a press conference, start laughing hysterically, and say, "APRIL FOOLS! We're all healthy! We had you guys going good!" Actually, maybe that's not optimistic. They would probably all get torn limb from limb by frustrated Cubs fans.

Have you ever noticed that while Jesus is a completely normal name for many people of Hispanic descent, it looks really weird in the from field in email? Especially in Gmail because if there are a lot of responses in a conversation it will look like this: Jon, Jesus, Me, Jesus, Me.

Well, off to O'Hare to retrieve my husband! Yay!

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