Women and pickup trucks
I'll never trust a woman with a pickup truck.  SUVs are fine.  Cars, minivans, motorcycles even.  But a pickup truck?  There's just something wrong with that. #travel

Moms in my way (2)
This post will surely offend people who, in general, are free from reproach.  It's like I'm kicking a puppy. 

I went to the grocery store after work the other day to pick up lettuce.  And mints.  Gotta have my mints!  The total for my two objects was about $6, and it typically would've taken me all of twelve seconds to get out of there (scan, scan, swipe, done).  Every line in the grocery store was manned by a cashier, and both self-checkout lines were functional.  But every line was full.  Like five people deep.  And what people group made up the five-people-deep line at every checkout counter?  Moms. 

I, like most people, have nothing against moms.  I have a mom myself.  She's good.  I'm a fan.  I'm a fan of other moms as well.  They have a tough job.  I don't envy that job, and I respect the difficulties and hardships involved with said job.  When I see a mom with a kid who's crying, I don't think, "Wow, that mom sucks."  I think, "Wow, that kid sucks that's a tough job."  And when a kid in the checkout line behind me yesterday saw two objects she wanted and her mom said to pick one, and the kid responded with, "But I love both of them," I have to smile.  Moms and kids are good. 

That being said, I surveyed the checkout lines at the grocery store and glanced at my watch, which also displays the date.  Yep, still August, i.e. one of the two months out of the year when children are pretty much guaranteed to be off from school.  Adding that to the fact that many moms don't have a traditional nine-to-five job and instead stay home with their kids (a noble act in itself), I couldn't help but think:  Moms, get out of my way.  I know you're busy with kids and you just got back from swim lessons and it's impossible to find time for blah-blah yadda-yadda, but there are literally hundreds of other minutes in a typical day which would be better-suited for satisfying your grocery needs, i.e. nine to five.  Not before nine.  Not after five.  In other words, go to the store during the day, when it's less crowded and hectic, instead of after normal working hours, when everybody and their mother suddenly decides they need one single item and proceeds to disrupt the gentle flow of my local grocery store.  Damnit. 

Related:  Old people in my way #business

Chicago trip review
As with any major trip I take, here's my review and commentary of the recent trip to Chicago

Chicago's public transportation system is pretty good, albeit a little confusing.  I'm not sure if it was confusing because I'm a notoriously bad map-reader, or if it's because the idea of a central loop means that sometimes you have to travel north in order to go south, and vice versa.  And there were a few curiously designed maps, including one that showed a train line whose northernmost point was at the bottom of the map.  Speaking of maps, the city should consider making one universal map with all major tourist landmarks, all bus routes, all train routes, and anything else that might seem important, rather than handing out one map for each of those things.  One thing that was a no-brainer was the $14 all-you-can-travel three-day transportation pass.  NYC has a similar thing, but I think it's only good for one day, so there's always the thought of how many times you'd need to ride the subway to make it worthwhile.  Chicago's pass was good for trains and buses, and it was easy to figure out that it would be a worthwhile weekend investment. 

One thing that was recommended to us by a friend was the CityPass, or another similar product called the Go Chicago Card, which are both simply a set of discounted tickets all rolled up into one (big) price.  They make a ton of sense if you plan on going to several of the typical tourist attractions like buildings, zoos, museums, etc.  However, they only make sense if you actually go to about 5 or 6 major attractions, which, for a three-day weekend, isn't all that practical.  How many different museums can you go to in a single day?  And why go to museums in the first place?  A museum in NYC is pretty much the same as a museum in Chicago.  Another downside was that almost all the tourist attractions closed at 5pm, which wasn't horrible, but just meant that there was a somewhat narrow window in which to squeeze an entire day's activities.  However, the one benefit that made the card worth the price was the privilege of cutting to the front of a line of about 50-75 people waiting to go to the top of the Sears Tower.  That was awesome. 

One of the coolest things we did was an architectural boat tour, not because I'm particularly fond of architecture, but because it was a cool tour of the city from the unique vantage point of a riverboat.  And since not every building was built on the same day, it was a history tour too.  It was cool hearing about the rise and fall of certain industries in the city, and it was sad to see the most recent addition of the obnoxiously phallic Trump Tower.  What a pig. 

The other cool thing we did was go to the Butterfly Haven at the Nature Museum, which was a room full of butterflies from around the world.  I don't know how to explain it.  It was just cool. 

Finally, we were pleased to find out when we reached the city that the Air and Water Show was taking place the whole weekend, which meant screaming jets were flying over our head all afternoon.  Apparently the residents aren't too pleased with this annual festival, but there were plenty of onlookers and lots of loud air vehicles. 

All in all, a good trip.  The only thing I would've done differently would be to plan a little downtime.  We must've walked 15-20 miles all weekend (despite all the public transportation), and we got home late on Sunday night.  It took a few days to feel normal again. #travel

Universal quiet hours (2)
Not everyone has a nine-to-five job, but I still think the world should (and usually does) adhere to the universal quiet hours of 10pm through 8am.  No loud activities should take place during these hours, including lawn-mowing, music-blasting, and collecting every single glass object from your house and individually throwing it into a garbage can from a height of four feet. #lifestyle