My kind of town, Chicago is...

Working Sat but thanks for the offer.

All we have to do is put our starters on a 12 day rotaion and the post season should be a cake walk.

Magic #6!

Magic # 4

Hey sublime, how's that Trump building coming along?

Hi there eoe, haven't been in that area in a while although I still see appliances tagged for the building going out so I'm hoping my penthouse there will be ready by the time I win the lottery.

CUBS MAGIC NUMBER IS TWO!

If they don't clinch today, joefromchicago might get to see it tomorrow.

For some reason, the last ten stories require 600% more time than the rest of the tower. But, hey, it's September already, and a lot of construction seems to get done right before an election (funny how that works). Who knows?

Still got that ticket? I had a 6hr stop cancel and just got home.

hey jw, we were down in your neck 'o the woods last night for Oaktoberfest. It was fun -- Nathan and the Cha Chas were MUCH better than the stuff we were listening to Thursday, but then I'll listen to zydeco over 80s pop any day.

I hope we can get Sublime1 to join us in the A2K NFL thing.

That's great, JPB. My wife and daughter were there too. (I was in Evanston, helping my parents). If it hadn't been for that, I probably would have recognized you at the Oaktoberfest and introduced you to my wife and little Annie. The local weekly, "Oak Leaves", photographed my daughter. Her photo might be in the next issue.

joe took us the the Oktoberfest on our last visit to Chicago, and that was really a fantastic venue with oompa music with beer flowing in huge tankards.

Holiday Lunch anyone?

I'm outta-my-mind busy this week (and probably next) but I'm keeping Christmas week open for fun and games (and shopping and baking). Is anyone interested in getting together for lunch?

map -- do you have any days coming up that would work for you? Is so, let me know and I'll ping jpinMilwaukee and sublime to see if they can join us as well.

I would love to meet for lunch, JPB. (It may all depend on last minute scheduling for any of us Chicago area A2Ker's.)

I have 3 days off I can take pretty much whenever this time of year.

Pretty open from now until the 24th.

Lunch would be cool, as long as we can make it somewhere near a train line or accessible by bus. I hate driving in this weather.

It'll probably take a bus, airplane, and train, but I'm ready to meet you all in San Francisco for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner.

Hey, sublime1 and Gargamel: any interest in joining JPB and me in seeing Co-Ed Prison Sluts on Dec. 26?

Damn. I wish I were in town--the Annoyance is literally just around the corner from my new pad. I would love to see that show.

But I'll be in Milwaukee. Staggering drunk into the Christmas tree as I sing to my family a sarcastic and derisive version of Joy to the World.

Too bad. There's still one more show, on Jan. 2. Then... who knows? It may be back in another twenty years.

Wait twenty years? I hope we have better luck waiting for the next Cubs pitcher to pitch a no-hitter.

Co-Ed Prison Sluts was the longest-running musical show in Chicago history, but when it closed in 2000 the director/producer/creator, Mick Napier, reportedly vowed that there would never be a revival, because Kahlua, who created the pivotal role of Fluffy, the hamster-eating dog, had gone to his eternal reward in puppy-thespian heaven. I was amazed, then, when I found out that it was being revived this year, and rather miffed that I found out about it with only about three weeks left in its run. Sorry about that, guys! I'm on the e-mail list now, so I'll be able to find out about these things a lot sooner.