sunday and monday were a blur of good times. mostly because of this one up there.
lindsay came down from milwaukee on sunday and got us a room at the swanky conrad hotel on rush street. we met at 4:20 had some drinks, and headed over to the best pizza restaurant in the world, Gino’s East which turned out to be closer than expected. ($5 cab ride).
wait, a pizza restaurant for a date? well it was either that or steaks, but because lindsays last bf was a billionaire, we agreed that there wasnt any restaurant in the world that i could taker that would impresser so we decided to just eat somewhere that tasted good and we could relax. so she picked ginos. which made me happy.
what made me even happier was we got there in time for the fourth quarter of the Bears game. now take notes ladies who wish to woo me: when we got to the hostess who was set to sit us i asked “where can we sit with a view of the TV?” hostess said, “sorry only place to see the game would be at the bar.” at that point i figured, guess i wont be seeing the end of the game, but miss wisconsin was all, we can totally sit at the bar. and after about two minutes there, i was like, i dont care what happens the rest of the night because right now i have a great view of a tie bears game in front of me, an Old Style in my hand, a deep dish pizza being cooked for me, and a super hot babe beside me. how much better can it get?
besides the pizza being freaking delicious and 100 times better than it should have been, da bears miraculously beat the Super Bowl champs with a field goal with mere seconds left to play in the game. an hour later we were at chicagos united center, best known as the place where Michael Jordan won his last few rings. we had great seats to see Bruce Springsteen and he put on one of the best shows id ever seen, and easily the best Bruuuuce show id ever attended.
he played all of Born to Run, and 20 other tunes, in a three hour marathon show that had no breaks, no time outs, and no encores, just one great tune after the next. i sang almost the whole night and somehow i still have my voice tonight. in fact its 3:19am and i cant believe im alive.
why? because after the show we thought it would be easy to catch a cab back to the hotel. we knew we were going to be drinking the whole night (which we did) and there we were walking around not the best part of chicago. plus lindsay was decked out and strolling around atop some very high, high heels. i was all, sorry i didnt have this planned out better, but she was a trooper and didnt complain.
after a while it became apparent that because of all the cars leaving the area, no cabs could drive in, so when we spotted a Billy Goat Tavern (home of the SNL classic skit “cheezborger, cheezborger, no pepsi, coke” we decided to grab a quick cheezborger and another drink.
the line for burgers was long but moving along mighty fast. but we sidled up to the bar first so we could have some drinks in our hands as we waited to place our food order. the place was loud and happy because most of the crowd was there post-bruce and the rest of them were there to celebrate da bears’ upset victory.
one guy even tried to get on top of the bar to demonstrate the boss dancing on top of the piano until a very authoritative voice told him to get the f down. it was classic chicago. “BECAUSE I SAID SO” was eventually yelled. we ate we drank we made friends with people from Detroit, we drank more, we drank even more and soon we were some of the last people left.
got a cab and sped back to the hotel. got there and it was only 1:15am. strangely wasnt drunk. wasnt even close to being drunk. all senses. all smiles. no apologies. wanted more booze. whats this a room service menu? ordered booze to the room, ignored the price. bro popped open the bubbly. bubbly got drained faster than either of us realized and for hours we laid in bed talking and talking and laughing and talking
until i said now is the part of the evening where i have you do some crazy ass shiznit. to which she said, let me drain my glass first. and she emptied it and did stuff that she could honestly say she didnt dream of doing. ha! then we got comfy and talked even more. good, deep, discussions about real things. imagine that.
and this morning we woke up, decided brunch was the right call. ate in the same place as the handsome bears tight end, who was easily recognized because he had a bears hat on (backwards), and as we said goodbye penciled in seeing each other again on new years. will it come true? who knows. but i do know i really fell hard for chicago this time out. maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the company, maybe it was all the learning that went on during my two days working at the trib. maybe it was da bears, maybe it was da bruce. maybe it was all of that mixed with celebrating my moms birthday and reuniting with all of my old grade school friends, most of whom turned out way more successful than i ever hoped theyd be.
if the plane ride gets hijacked by martians and you never see me again, its because i had one of the most fulfilling working vacations ever, and theyre trying to suck the fun out of my brain like i was a human slurpee of happiness. which is kinda what i feel like right now.
Andrea: Do you honestly think we’ll ever have universal healthcare (nevermind before the year ends) and why? How much coffee is too much coffee? And your favorite autumn food?
i do think that we will have universal heathcare. the majority of americans overwhelmingly have voted for democrats over the last six years. theres now a super majority in congress and a president who believes that healthcare as it is currently needs to change. so guess what, theres going to be change with healthcare. the president is trying to be nice and let the minority have a say in exactly what that change will consist of, but it doesnt sound like the minority wants to do much but defend the status quo and the insurance companies that help finance their political campaigns.
but when push comes to shove, guys like glenn beck know that something has to give, theyre just embarrassed that its going to be them. something tells me that once healthcare passes they’ll find something else to get all weird about like clean air and water, better schools, and greener grass. and that super majority will become a superdooper majority.
Keira-Anne: Tony, when you were a little boy, what did you want to be when you grew up?
taller.
King: Do you think the Patriots will beat the Jets this week or does Rex Ryan have them ready?
there are very few athletes that i hate more than tom brady. and at this point with all his rings, including the most valuable one being his golden ring given to him by Giselle, i dont know why hes still playing football. unfortunately the ryans are very nice men, but theyre not bellichek-level cheaters, i mean, winners. brady will get a hangnail and sanchez will get a run in his stockings. pattys by 35.
Wally: Are you going to run off to CNN with your old boss?
i heart meredith with all my heart. but LA is my lady and i have some pretty huge goals i have yet to accomplish at the Times before i even consider anything new. and people thought i was kidding a few years ago when i made the move over here when i said, “i like the underdog”. but i do, and cnn.com is the furthest thing from the underdog. theyre the top dog of u.s. online news. although the times are tops in LA, cali, and the west, we still have a few other icons to surprise and id like to be around when that happens.
alecia: if you lived under the sea what type of creature would you want to be?
shark would be nice, but i hear theyre pretty dumb. im a little too used to that. dolphins are cute but i hear they have mighty large libidos. cough. whales are huge and have biblical dudes living in their bellies. and salmon swim upstream to get it on. none of those things seems appealing. bottom dwellers dont see fun. squid are all crazy weird. marlin get caught by crazy fat rich dudes. and goldfish have the brains of a flea. so i guess my answer would be a chilean sea bass because at least once i got caught id be a delicious meal for some lucky sap who wouldnt appreciate me.
Toad: I heard they caught that escapee bank robber carjacker pretty close to your house. Have anything to do with that?
of course not. the illinois police, the fbi, and that mysterious car that crashed in to him deserve all the credit in the world. plus im on vacation.
pete: do you think america took a turn for the meaner this summer, or is all that just a figment of the media’s imagination?
other than for a few select channels who are clearly only in it for the ratings, the “media” really is just a reflection of whats happening in the world. but i dont think americas gotten meaner, i think they’ve become more partisan. the left definitely have reason to complain that the folks who they elected aren’t doing what they promised theyd do, and the right seem to want to complain about anything that the left wants to do now that its their turn to take the wheel. and since im a staunch independent who thinks being blindly loyal to any party is silly, id say that america has taken a turn for the dumb this sumber.
timmay!!!!! when will the wars in iraq and afghanistan end? why is the left suddenly so quiet about each?
the wars will end when obama realizes that he’s not getting any cred from the right for staying the course. i cant get into his head, but my belief is he doesnt want to come across as the ultra left lefty that hes being painted out to be, so hes continuing to do some things that bush co. would have done if they had gotten a third term. i think thats a big mistake because people werent crying from joy last november when he won by a huge margin because they thought that this would be more of the same. they were ecstatic because that poster over their bed said Change. the left is suddenly quiet because they are starting to realize that they didnt hire a messiah or an agent for change or a bff, they hired a politician when, if they really wanted to get out of this war, they should have hired ron paul.
Mike: what’s wrong with the cubs? white sox? bears?
theres nothing wrong with the cubs. other than that terrible curse theyre cursed with. theres nothing wrong with the sox except for the fact that they play in that ridiculous league and have no heart. and the only thing wrong with the bears is their qb has more cockiness than confidence and hes probably too young to know the difference. two of those teams will be champs in a few years but not the one that plays a glorified version of slow pitch softball on the south side.
zona: You have to throw three bands, or individuals, OUT of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and replace them with three who you think deserve it more. Talk to me. And check this van out.
out: blondie, the pretenders, traffic. in: beastie boys, sonic youth, weird al yankovic.
reasons: blondie only had a few hits that will last forever, same with the pretenders, and traffic was no more revolutionary than a hundred other blues bands most of whom werent white. however the beasties totally changed the rap game for whites, sonic youth took punk to a much higher level, and weird al is a completely underrated genius.
g/d: you know where I can get a a blueprint a plan a schematic a scheme/scream for a dream?
i believe you’ll find what youre searching for in the basement of the alamo.
Aaron: Plans to watch Cutler in person? What record do you see da Bears with at the end of the season?
im sure i will see cutler in person, just not today. too many people who want to charge far too much money for a game that will end in a bears defeat. i see da bears finishing up with a 9-7 record, which will be good enough to win the division and, like peter king predicted, will get the monsters of the midway into the superbowl because the nfc is filled with a bunch of romos, old packers, and dog fighters who are out of shape.
he was never seen again. which is why the xbi called me asking if i would help.
“im on vacation.” i said, “plus im no longer a super hero. im a blog editor, furthest thing from a super hero.”
BUT YOURE RIGHT THERE! they said.
crazyiest coincidence ever, because as i was driving downtown this afternoon i saw a helicoper hovering at a few thousand feet. not circling, just sitting there in the air perfectly hovering.
then on the freeway i saw two undercover cars with their lights on speeding up the freeway. they were all going to where they thought/think the guy was.
to add even more craziness to all of this: the guy isnt even that bad of a guy, hes a purse snatcher who also did some holdups with a toy gun. he’d actually be great for the xbi if he wasnt a crook. which is why i think they want me to get him.
but im retired. im thru being cool. but i do like that the reward is “substantial”.
later my mom called me all in a panic because they put my neice’s school on lockdown.
my mom was all, everyones afraid for their kids.
and i said, mom, you know i love those kids with my whole heart. (when i drove in from the airport yesterday i got two happy meals, so i could eat a little something and give them the toys).
but i said, “if you want that guy to surrender, just stick him in a house with those two for about 35 minutes. the best thing that could ever happen to Rolling Meadows (isnt that just the sweetest name for a town), would be if you volunteered those kids to subdue that dude.”
