Toronto: Part 2

We weren’t up early on Saturday morning. No, all that beer made us a bit…sluggish…the next morning. So, we got a late start on our trek to the eastern parts of Toronto.

We took the Queen streetcar and got off in Leslieville for brunch and the continuation of our yarn crawl.

I don’t recall this as a neighborhood when I lived here *cough* 20 *cough* years ago. [Damn, it's hard to admit I was older than a wee child that many years ago!] It seems to be coming along, though, as there were several newish looking shops there.

After breakfast, we wandered along Queen Street East until we got to The Purple Purl. And here we paused for quite a while.

When we walked in, we were happy to see a good-sized seating area with cushy chairs, a case full of goodies (including truffles and pastries), and an espresso machine. But before we gave in to the urge to lounge, we walked around and fondled the yarn.

The Purl has a great selection of “Canadian content,” as they say. There were yarns such as Indigo Moon and other special items such as hand-carved buttons. I fell hard for the buttons (tagua nut, antler, and maple) and a single skein of Canadian Quiviut. Then we settled in for a nice cup of tea and a chat with some friendly knitters and one of the shop owners, Jennifer. We could have stayed far into the afternoon, but realized that we were sitting inside on an incredibly lovely day. So, we managed to lever ourselves out of there and hop back on the Queen streetcar.

We exited at Kew Gardens Park and continued down Queen on foot in search of healthy carry out for lunch. We also made one more stop at The Naked Sheep to complete our yarn crawl. A sweet shop with a good selection of basics and luxury yarns, we nonetheless didn’t linger too long as we were itching to hit the boardwalk along The Beaches.

With some Thai carry out in hand, we parked ourselves on a comfy bench where we ate, knit, and watched all the people and dogs walking by.

The sun was out most of the time, but we did feel a bit chilly when it was briefly covered by a cloud. However, it was a fabulous, relaxing way to spend an hour. There were cormorants fishing in Lake Ontario, kite-fliers, swimmers (!!), and many happy people enjoying the weather on their bikes, rollerblades, and their own two feet.

Eventually, we had to head back to the room and plan out what to do for dinner. After two nights of less than stellar food (no complaints, but pub food and airport food aren’t exactly memorable in a really good way) we wanted to splurge. After a little bit of web browsing, we found a great place: Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar.

The “foodies” on Chowhound may have some issues with Jamie Kennedy’s menus, but Rachael and I had a fabulous dinner. The menu is tapas-style, which allowed us to try several different different dishes of fresh, locally-sourced ingredients. I enjoyed all my selections immensely: celery root soup; smoked pickerel with fennel salad; and duck confit with soft polenta and dried fruit compote.

With each plate, I enjoyed a different wine pairing of just 3 oz each, so I didn’t repeat my over-indulgence of the night before. Although, when we ended our meal by splitting the plate of artisanal cheeses, I went for the larger pour of port. We stopped for some gelato as we walked back to our hotel and then turned in for a decent night’s sleep.

The next morning was our last, and we were desperate to enjoy a decent breakfast. The previous two mornings we had eaten mediocre breakfasts, where the only thing that really stood out was the peameal bacon. The night before, we had found out about Jamie Kennedy’s newest venture, Gilead Cafe, and since we had such a fine dinner the night before we decided to try it. Since we had to check out at noon, we got up for an early start to Corktown (another newish neighborhood). We didn’t realize the subways didn’t open until 9 AM on Sundays, so we ended up taking a cab instead.

When the cab dropped us off on King at Gilead Court, we were a bit perplexed. It looked like an alley and we didn’t see any large signage from King Street. A few steps later, though, and we were reassured to see some folks inside setting up for the day.

This was a divine breakfast: fresh-baked croissant, fresh coffee, and a bowl of yogurt with granola and hazel nuts. The yogurt was the best I’ve *ever* had: handmade on the premises from whole, raw milk then blended with homemade blueberry jam. The texture was thick and creamy, and the taste was tangy and rich. The server said they “hang” the yogurt a bit to let more liquid drain off, resulting in a thicker yogurt. All I know is I’d eat this every day quite gladly!

We still wanted to do a bit of exploring before heading back to the hotel, so we walked the few blocks to the Distillery District to look around and take in the offerings. Here we had our second fabulous cup of coffee at Balzac’s Coffee Roastery.

This gem of a place served up outstanding coffee in a beautiful setting. Even the latte was beautiful.

We also stopped at a yummy bakery in the Distillery where I picked up a fresh scone, but I missed the name of the place because as I was paying for my scone, I got a call from United Airlines that my flight had been cancelled. Thus ended our time in the Distillery, as we caught another cab back to the hotel to plot out how I was going to get home and then check out.

The flight cancellation was actually not something I was too worried about. After all, I still had half the day left to get onto another flight and, if it was really necessary for me to stay an extra day, I had my laptop for work. So, I made the best of this bonus time.

Rachael had planned to take in a movie after I left at midday for the airport. She wanted to stick to her plan and I wanted to take in more of Toronto, so we parted ways and I was once again wandering on my own. I headed to Chinatown to take in the sites and enjoy the cheap lunch I had missed a couple days earlier.

I found that the barbeque pork over rice is still the best deal in Chinatown. When I lived here, we used to stop in Chinatown for this steal of a meal where we could both eat for a total of $5. The price has gone up, but not by much. I paid $3.25 for the bowl of rice and barbeque pork, which also included a hot pot of tea. I actually splurged a bit and ordered a plate of gai-lon (Chinese broccoli) for an extra $4 since this is one of my favorite veggies.

Wandering up Spadina towards College, I stopped at a Chinese bakery where I picked up a couple sweet red bean pastries for snacking on the way to the airport, and then caught the streetcar back to the hotel where I picked up my bag. Then it was off to the airport for a long wait to get on a short, but highly unpleasant flight home.

All in all, I had a great time and it felt good to get back to a town for which I have so many fond memories. I don’t know why, but the people in Toronto just seem so much more happy and secure and the vibe is reassuring. The transit was superb and the size of the city is very manageable compared to Chicago or New York. I started off my trip with a streak of nostalgia and ended up ready to return again and again. As long as it doesn’t involve flying United Airlines, that is.

Toronto: Part 1

It was easy to be a bit nostalgic about Toronto. But, as Rachael astutely asked, “Are you nostaligic about the city or about being 20?” I’d have to say: both. Definitely both.

As I predicted, Rachael’s 6:30 PM flight out of O’Hare was delayed, so I felt entirely comfortable taking a little trip on my own to SSK (Sit, Sip and Knit) Night at In the Loop Cafe Thursday night. I had a blast generally unwinding and getting oriented to the local knitter scene.

I think I inspired Tracy to make the Neckdown Wrap Cardigan, and Drea told me that the very next evening the monthly Drunken Knitter’s Night was taking place. And in addition to the yummy *real* scone I purchased, we had some delicious butterscotch cake homemade by Alessandra to celebrate Draya’s birthday.

Although In the Loop was supposed to close at 9 PM, I didn’t leave until closer to 9:30 PM to catch the bus back to St. Clair West station. Rachael finally arrived at the hotel at about 11 PM. By then, I was quite tired, but she needed to get some food so we walked to a nearby 24-hour Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up some snacks (cheese, crackers, and yogurt) and make a plan for the next day.

Friday morning we were up early and headed out for a day of exploring. We walked up Yonge to Bloor, then over to a restaurant across from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) for breakfast. We were astounded by the fact that the ROM was being consumed by a crystalline alien ship from outer space.

But this wasn’t our final destination. Sad to say, I continued my tradition of being in Toronto and NOT visiting the ROM. Instead, we went to the Bata Shoe Museum, which was just a block or two west on Bloor Street. Who would have thought shoes could be so interesting? I took way too many photos of them.

From the Shoe Museum, we walked west on Bloor to Spadina where we purchased some TTC day passes and hopped a streetcar south. Like me, Rachael loves the streetcars. They are a quiet and pleasant form of surface transportation, and rarely encountered in cities anymore. We were headed to the first stop on our mini-yarn crawl through Toronto: Romni Wools. But before we got to Romni, we had to resist the myriad temptations on Queen Street West.

Around Spadina and for several blocks west, Queen Street is the “Fashion District.” We saw many fabric stores, button and trimming stores, and unique clothing stores. Peach Berserk beckoned, and Rachael barely made it out. She was sorely tempted to buy a custom made jacket, but took some time to walk out to think about it. After about 15 minutes inside Romni Wools, she felt better about passing on the opportunity.

Romni was completely overwhelming. It was packed, packed, packed with yarn. I know they don’t have *everything* there, (no Lorna’s Laces, for example) but it was a close thing. Since we were trying to stick to unique, preferably Canadian yarns and products, we were able to narrow things down a bit. Romni now has their own label of yarns, and we both picked up some Romni brand yarn.

As it was now getting well past lunch time, we needed sustenance. I had hoped to get some cheap eats in Chinatown, but we were several blocks away and needed food soon. So, we stopped at the Jerk Spot and instead had a treat I’ve only had in Toronto: roti. Specifically, we had curried goat roti. As a lunch special with a soda, the grand total was just over $5. Quite a deal, and quite good.

One of the reasons we didn’t want to roam far for lunch was because Rachael wanted to stop at the BakkaPhoenix science fiction bookstore for some browsing. While I do like science fiction, I wasn’t wanting to do any book shopping so I just hung out as she enthusiastically browsed the shelves and picked up a few good books.

We headed back to Spadina on the Queen streetcar, then continued north to Nassau Street and Kensington Market. We were headed to Lettuce Knit but enjoyed the atmosphere of Kensington Market in general.

It was just down the block from Lettuce Knit that we got the first amazing cup of coffee we’d had in a long time at Ideal Coffee. I was too mellowed by the excellent latte and the engrossing eavesdropping to take photos, but this site has some photos that capture the ecelectic vibe of the place. And Rachael also said the coffee here was even better than the coffee she had in Italy. I’ve never been to Italy, so I can’t make this distinction. But the latte was amazingly great.

We returned to the hotel (via another streetcar along College; hooray for streetcars!) for a short lay-down before joining the knitter crowd at the Spotted Dick. The Spotted Dick is a pub, so the food isn’t complicated in any way. We chowed down on fish and chips, washed down with beer. In my case, it was lots and lots of beer. I can’t remember when I last drank 4 pints of beer, and I barely made it through the night.

We had a grand time, though.

On the right is Rachael, of course. On the left is Jeff. Jeff was working on a Baby Surprise jacket, and generally holding up a lively conversation on a number of topics. On one of them, I’ll stay mum for now. The other, though, was about his deep desire to raise a pig for slaughter. Inside his city condo. Which is technically a studio, or a small one-bedroom. And I’m considered a bit “out there” for keeping a few hens in my backyard???

More to come. Much, more more to come. I’m just too tired after returning from such a wonderful weekend to finish this narrative. And I know this is getting quite long by now. I’ll just close out with one last photo from Kensington Market. ‘Nuff said.

Whoops!

I was getting myself all ready for a nice “girls weekend” trip with my friend Rachael last night when I noticed something funny about my airline ticket. I wasn’t booked on the 6:30 PM flight out of Chicago today; I was booked on the 6:30 AM flight out of Chicago today. Oh, @#$%&!

A quick check of the United Airlines website confirmed this, as well as the grim reality that if I tried to change my flight to leave later in the day I’d have to pay an extremely hefty premium: nearly $1,300. Gulp!

So, here I am in Toronto — Yarn Harlot territory. Several hours earlier than planned, and with the work laptop that I had hoped to leave at home. I’m trying to work while sitting in the hotel lobby since the room isn’t ready for check in yet.

It’s pretty hard to focus on work right now, though. For one thing, I got about 3 hours of sleep last night. For another thing, I have a serious case of Toronto nostalgia right now. I took a bus into downtown from the airport and it drove right by one the areas where I lived many years ago when I was here. Wow, it has completely transformed. What was a little light industry area where we lived in a converted industrial loft is now…condos. Lots and lots of condos.

I have this incredible urge to just blow off the meetings I have this afternoon and check out the old haunts. But I’ll do the responsible thing and continue to work away instead. *sigh* I wish the room were ready at least.

Gardening and chickens

It may not be apparent, but it was my interest in gardening that first led me to keeping chickens. I love to garden, and I really love to grow food. It makes me feel empowered and more in touch with my body, and it also makes me feel somewhat…virtuous.

From looking at history through books and documentaries, it’s apparent that this behavior — growing your own food — was something many more Americans used to do in the past. For some perhaps it was just a chore or a dreaded necessity. I’d like to think that for the majority, though, there was some pleasure derived from the practice.

At this point in time and in this season, Americans are encouraged to work in their yards, certainly. But from the magazine and TV ads it appears that this work mostly involves creating the perfect turf grass lawn or flower bed, with perhaps a reference to vegetable gardening mainly in the context of “fresh, homegrown tomatoes.” Many people just don’t understand why I should take such joy and pride in growing my own greens or raspberries.

Well, here’s why.

A raised bed with peas, chard and beets.

A raised bed with radish, lettuces and arugula.

I had some help planting these beds a few weeks ago. This past Sunday, I spent a couple hours thinning the beds and weeding. From the thinnings, I’ve had several wonderful “micro-green” salads and sandwich wraps. Yes, when I took these photos yesterday afternoon, I was feeling incredibly proud and happy with the payoff from these efforts.

Then, I went back inside to do a bit more work. When I came back outside a few hours later to head out to Stitch n’ Bitch night, I encountered a big problem.

This is the same bed that contained such lovely radish, lettuces, and arugula just a few hours before. Somehow, the hens were able to squeeze themselves under or around the bird netting and I found them inside, having a grand old time.

I was quite devastated. That’s a 4 foot by 8 foot bed of greens lovingly prepped, planted, watered, and generally attended to for several weeks. I did get some food out of it, but most has been destroyed well before it was ready for a real harvest. It will have to be replanted soon if I ever hope to get some decent salad greens before summer.

I still haven’t figured out how the hens got in there. The netting was firmly in place, and I had to undo it before I could “herd” them out. And I was pretty pissed at the hens, too, for sneaking in and ruining many weeks of salads for me.

Then today I opened up my news alerts and saw a story that led me to this graphic film about the conditions in a battery hen operation in California. [FAIR WARNING: this is a really graphic portrayal, so don't click the link if you're not up for seeing some nasty stuff.] The group that put this together may be promoting veganism, but you don’t have to be vegan to understand how incredibly cruel and unnecessary this is.

I may have felt inconvenienced and a bit angry that the hens destroyed my lettuce bed, but at least I know that my eggs are coming from some happy, well-tended chickens.

And, I hope they enjoyed the illicit feast while they could, since I’m going to be building a rather large run for them soon that will ensure this sort of accident doesn’t happen again!

Health and the alphabet

We’ve all heard how important vitamins are to our health. Well, I found out last week that part of the reason I have been feeling like such a tired, crabby, idiot is that my vitamin B 12 level has dropped much too low. When I found this out, I had my typical reaction: “Well, that explains a lot!”

Yep, some of symptoms of B 12 deficiency are “…tiredness or a decreased mental work capacity, decreased concentration and decreased memory, irritability and depression.” (No, I don’t get all my info from Wikipedia; the Mayo Clinic site also has similar information.) The treatment is twice weekly injections of B 12 for several weeks, then a re-test of my levels and possibly continuing oral supplements.

As for why my B 12 level is so low, that’s still a mystery to me. I eat all the foods that are good sources of B 12 (all meats, eggs, and dairy), but for whatever reason it’s not enough right now. I’ll definitely look into this some more after I get the symptoms addressed.

I had my first B 12 injection today and I’m really hoping to feel some sort of improvement in a week or so. To me, improvement would be:

• Not uncontrollably yawning during exercise. No, I’m not bored by my trainer, I’m just oxygen-deprived!
• Feeling mentally alert and awake most days. I really do feel more “foggy” and just plain stupid lately. In the past couple months, I’ve even had a few days where I have trouble getting out of bed. I don’t mean having the will or volition to get out of bed, I mean having the energy to pull myself out of sleep and upright; it’s like trying to escape quicksand. And I thought those were just “really bad allergy days.”
• Increased concentration. It’s hard to work when it’s hard to concentrate. There are evenings when I just can’t think about knitting, and forget about blogging! Too much concentration and energy required!

I try very hard to not use this blog for whining and moaning, but I just can’t help but feel pretty miffed that it took a trip to the allergist to figure this out. Why didn’t my own internist test my B 12 level when I presented with these symptoms last year? She offered me a script for an SSRI for my “moodiness” and one for Nasonex for my “allergies” instead. When it came to the SSRI, I said “no thanks!,” but after a year I finally took the initiative and decided to see an allergist to find out just what the heck I’m “allergic” to.

So far, the only allergies I seem to have are to those typical things that are pretty much a fact of life: mold, dust, and dust mites. My reactions weren’t that strong, though, so it shouldn’t be difficult to deal with them. I’m still undergoing tests for possibly food allergies, and have a few more visits until I finish getting tested for everything.

I’m now looking for a new internist or general practitioner, too.

O Freunde

Happy Earth Day to all!

I was listening to music instead of podcasts this morning while taking the train into work. My iPod was in shuffle mode and throwing up a pretty interesting combination of tunes: Mad World (the slower version from Donnie Darko), Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meatloaf), Slow Train to Dawn (The The), and Brand New Day (Sting). 

The culmination, though, as I was walking out of the station and into this warm, sunny day was the fourth movement (the choral) from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

I had the pleasure of enjoying this symphony live a few years ago at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Sitting just a few seats away from the chorus and just slightly above the orchestra and main vocalists, it was an unforgettable experience that I will always treasure.

And what a way to start such a lovely day! I was tearing up as I rode the elevator up to my floor and listened to the words.

Seid umschlungen, Millionen!

Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!

Be embraced, you millions!

This kiss for the whole world!

 What a great way to start Earth Day.

Shaky week for Chicago

It’s been quite a newsworthy week here in Chicago and those of us living on the northwest side have had more than our share of events to deal with.

Earlier this week, we were rattled by a wild cougar roaming into a northwest side neighborhood where police cornered and killed it. (I wasn’t happy at first to hear that they killed it instead of capturing it, but apparently the situation escalated so rapidly that there was no other option.)

Then we get another fiasco on the el’s Blue Line Tuesday morning leading to thousands of frustrated morning commuters. Thank goodness I no longer ride the Blue Line every day and my husband had decided to ride his bike to work that day. The extra cost I pay for a Metra ticket is worth the increased reliability and decreased hassle. I mean, who wants to start their day stuck in a filthy, poorly-ventilated tunnel underground?

Finally, today we wake up to an earthquake. I briefly roused this AM at about the time of the ‘quake, but I just put it down to my typical pre-dawn restlessness. Several folks at work say their cats woke them up, but our poor kitty got stuck outside last night (that’s what she gets for sneaking out the back door just before bedtime) and the dogs didn’t seem to find anything wrong with a little trembling in the morning.

Let’s hope things settle down a bit here.

Returning

We’re back! We’ve actually been home since Thursday night, but I had no time to write until today. Friday was for catch up at work, and today…ah…today has been for working in the garden.

I have a new friend who helped me garden today. Laura is a friend of Rachael’s who is just as crazy about gardening as I am, but has no space to do it in. She will be sharing the garden space this year, which is just fine with me. As much as I love to grow veggies and eat them myself, Mark is not as into it as me. So, I typically end up with lots of produce to give away or that goes to waste. Of course, now that the I have the “hungry hens” there is likely to be very little wasted at all, but I’d rather see some person get to eat it first.

Today we prepped and planted two beds with cool season veggies: peas, chard, beets, radishes, leeks (a bit late for these, but we’ll see what we get), arugula, and two different kinds of lettuce. One of the beds is reserved for tomatoes and eggplants, and the other was planted in garlic last fall, which is sprouting fairly well. We’ll add some pole beans to the perimeter of that bed once we get past the last frost date. Other things that I’ll be adding in pots are peppers (capsicums) and watercress. At last year’s farmers market, I found myself stalking the one farmer who sold watercress. I had no idea I loved this green so much until last year. Now I’ll have my own yummy plot. We’ll also be adding pots of herbs, too, but all of that must wait until after mid-to late-May when we get our average last frost date.

The weather was perfect today: sunny and warm. We lured the hens into their Eglu run with some wilted greens and then got to work. Once the beds were prepped and planted, we had to secure them with bird-netting and fencing to keep the hens from digging up all our seeds. I really need to build a new run for them that will give them more room to roam than the Eglu does but still keep them away from the garden beds. However, I won’t have any free time to do that until after next weekend.

All in all it was a fabulous day and I’m feeling much better than I have in weeks. I’m off to make some dinner and now, so will have to post about our trip to Cumberland Island another day.

Just a quickie

Yeah, I know I haven’t been writing lately, but I’ve been either working a lot or sick. Last week I was in bed with that ”super virus” everyone else has had. What a nasty bug, and it still hasn’t totally left me. I seem well enough to fly, though, which is good ’cause we’re headed for Cumberland Island tomorrow AM.

We’re catching an early flight to Jacksonville, FL and from there will be transported first by car and then by private ferry boat to the island. Once there, I plan to simply rest. I’m looking forward to leisurely hikes, bicycle rides, and shell hunting on the beach, followed by some canoodling with my husband. I’ll likely wedge a bit of knitting and reading in there, too.

All is packed and ready to go: minimal outfits and toiletries, binoculars (for watching the wildlife), digital camera, and a couple books and knitting projects (socks and an easy shawl: the perfect travel knitting).

I hope to have many photos, a healthy glow, and a mellowed attitude when I return. Have a great week, all!

Ides of March

Not to sound overly dramatic, but today was quite a mess. What’s up: Is the moon full? Are we in retrograde? I wish I knew why it was such a clusterf*ck of a day.

It started off with me getting a call from one of my clients about 10 minutes before my train arrived in the station. She was reporting a big problem with one of our absolutely critical intranet sites. There were broken links all over it, oh, and by the way, the site was being reviewed by some Very Important People in about 2 hours.

Now, this isn’t a new intranet site in beta. Nor have we recently switched to a new platform that has gone flaky. No, this site was very carefully built by me about 6 months ago in a short timeframe (one month) to meet an urgent business issue. Then, it was turned over to one of my direct reports to maintain. And, all seemed to have gone well with the maintenance over the past months.

All this person — let’s call her M — had to do to maintain the site was update links. She didn’t even have to monitor for links that broke, she had to receive an email from someone else who would tell her ”we updated these pages today on our site, so you’ll have to update your links.” M was fully trained in the CMS [that's content management system for those of you not in the biz], then took over maintenance of the intranet within a few weeks of completing her training.

M arrived at the office within minutes of me. I told her about the call and that there were problems with broken links. “Oh, yes I know.”

My internal reaction: WHAT????!!!!  You knew and didn’t address this right away?????!!!!! Are you out of your ever-loving mind?????!!!!!

But, when in the midst of a crisis and an impossible deadline, you knuckle down and get to work. So, I firmly indicated that was not good, but we would talk about it after we addressed the problem: we had to fix these links right away and I would help.

By noon, it appeared we would be OK so I stepped out and grabbed lunch. I was famished since I never had the opportunity eat the breakfast I had packed. After a few bites, we sat down to talk so I could piece the situation together and here’s how it came out. 

She knew there was a problem last Friday; she didn’t escalate it to me, but instead chose to wait until the platform team was in on Monday and escalated to them. They pinpointed the problem: she was not using the CMS correctly when she added links.  They told her the correct procedure, and she “planned to get the links updated this week.”

There were so many things wrong here that I was dumb-founded. I calmly ran down them with her and explained where she had not followed SOP, concluding with the fact that the entire situation was inexcusable and a very serious infraction. I escalated it to my boss, who will work with the client to smooth things over. And, we will have to consult with HR about how they want me to document this.

This intranet site is critical to a certain aspect of our business and it simply must be functional at all times. At a minimum, M displayed extremely poor judgement, and I barely hesitate to call it downright incompetence.

So, 90% of my day was spent on this mess. I left the office with my laptop, glad to be heading home where I could do a few small outdoor chores (e.g. clean up the yard after the dogs…you know what I mean!), finish up the most critical things I wasn’t able to get to today, then carve out an hour of relaxation time before getting to bed at reasonable hour.

Instead, I get a harried call from my husband. He rode to work today on this bike (yes, it finally got above freezing today) and as he was returning home he got a flat; his spare innertube was the wrong size, so he couldn’t ride. “Are you asking me to come pick you up, or are you telling me you’re taking the bus home?” I say. He wants me to drive cross-town to pick him up.

I thought for a moment about how he would take it if I said no. Not good. Do I want to deal with a sullen husband for the next day or two? If I don’t do this, would I really get that relax time with him being sulky? No. I have to once again knuckle down and pick him up. Forty minutes and about 4 miles later (yep, traffic really sucked) I locate him and help him load his bike in the car.

After he got in the car, I sat there with him for a few minutes and explained to him that the timing of his request was really poor. He knew about my crisis today, but apparently didn’t realize that it meant I still had a few hours of work to finish today; that the hour I had to take out of the evening driving cross town to pick him up and bring him home was quite a burden for me; that I really wish he would have taken the bus home this one time, since the bus stop was right across the street and the bus would drop him and his bike [all the buses in Chicago now have bike racks on the front] one block from our house and taken him no additional commute time; and that the only reason I had done this for him was because I thought he would be angry and upset if I didn’t.

He processed that. Then, he apologized. He hadn’t thought about my horrible day and how it would have impacted my other work projects; he had thought only of himself. Yes, he would have been upset if I declined to pick him up, but now he understood why I wanted to do so.

In the famous words of Farmer Hogget (James Cromwell) from the move Babe: That’ll do.

And to paraphrase the immortal Scarlett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind: I sure hope tomorrow _is_ a better day.