I’m up in Chicago again. Been here since last Tuesday and will be flying back this Friday. It’s been a busy week, as I’ve been training a new employee on our reporting environment. On the plus side, we now have a dedicated report writer. On the minus side, I’m so exhausted that I pretty much pass out at seven thirty.

Things I continue to reaffirm:

• Offices are too noisy. I get more done in three hours at home than I do eight at corporate. My words of wisdom? Be mean to stupid people so they leave you alone, otherwise you will be pestered all day long by a never-ending series of “quick questions”.
• Chicagoans have a lot of hate. At least the ones on my train do. Hate their jobs. Hate their lives. Hate their health. Hate hate hate. And yet, they rush onto and off of the train. I see people trampling each other to get on the train, only to find that the car is half empty. I don’t get it.
• Winters in Chicago suck. Snow sucks. Cold sucks. There are many people who love winter. I am not one of those people.
• People love, love, love to be martyrs.  Give it a rest, Joan of Arc.

Speaking of the train: I heard one of my favorite pet-peeve phrases the other day. It goes something like “All we can do is pray.” It rates right up there with “It’s in God’s hands.” Two of the great cop-outs of life. Let’s not actually DO something useful, let’s leave it in the hands of the Magical Sky God. Good luck with that.

In lighter news: An Important Austin Reminder: SXSW is coming up in March. It’s the week of 3/13 through 3/22. The badges to get in are expensive, but if you are into film and music, it’ s the place to be. We’ve got an extra bedroom. If you can’t make that, then consider ACL in October.

Nothing much else exciting happening. Evelyn has been busy pulling stuff out of storage, donating things, and whatnot. We’re going through stuff we haven’t looked at in five years, trying to figure out what to keep, and often wondering “why in the heck did we keep that?”