Full of ideas: Money for Chicago!

I love my city.

Chicago is beautiful. Our neighborhood (Ravenswood, North Center, Lincoln Square -- whatever it's actually called) is awesome. We love it here.

And Chicago needs money. Like most things in this day and age, the city is short on money and long on this list of things that need the money.

But wait! I've got some solutions! These aren't just solutions for money problems, they also fix some problems beyond money. Mrs. Skerkoski, my third grade teacher, would call this feeding two birds with one cookie.

My brilliant idea is this: Enforce laws on the books. I'm talking stop signs, yielding to pedestrian, not having car alarms honking all day, drivers chatting on cell phones, and all such laws. Laws that make our streets, sidewalks and bike lanes safe. Just enforce them.

Certainly police officers might not have time for this, but I think and hope that enforcing regular laws can make Chicago a better place to live, which is good for police, city pocketbooks and everyone who spends time in this fair city. And, I suggest that a non-police crew or some sort of cadet squadron to do the job.

A few ideas for the Chicago Police, or their representatives:

• Sit at any 4-way stop and watch! No one stops. Most people roll through stop signs unaware of other vehicles, people and life outside of themselves. Cha-ching!
• Observe how drivers treat pedestrians in crosswalks. In Washington, D.C., our nation's capital, pedestrians are held in high regard. Cars stop at crosswalks and walkers can make it across a road with carefree ease. In Chicago crossing at a cross-walked intersection is risky. Chicago Police have ticketed before for this infraction and I think they should do so again -- all the time. I'm not trying to slow down everyone driving in the city -- honestly. Drivers may not do the math but I do: You are hurrying up to get to the next red light! You are not slowed down by slowing down on a regular city street. Slowing down is built in.
  
• Cell phones -- If I were deputized to only give tickets to drivers who are talking obviously on cell phones while driving I'd make the city about a grand each month.
  
• Ticket people who do not control their car alarms. No one objects to this. No one. It's the best idea ever.
  
• Jaywalking -- Here I am siding with cars! Jaywalking should be curtailed -- too often I observe people (sometimes with children or cell phones stuck to their ears) darting across busy streets when stop-lighted crosswalks are nearby. Get yourself to a safe place to cross, people!
• Asshole behavior -- There's not a specific law against that, but there are laws against many asshole behaviors like being loud, littering and zipping a scooter through traffic.

Enforcing these laws sounds stupid maybe but it's not. The Broken Windows Theory says big problems follow small ones. To make Chicago a nicer place to walk around, drive around means a lot. And to make some extra money for schools, police, parks and other wonderful Chicago things. Come on Chicago - what do you say?

I'm so hungry!

Being almost 20 weeks pregnant means you're supposed to eat a lot. 300 extra calories a day, even if you don't feel like it. (Note: 300 calories isn't a ton, but it's a decent amount of extra food, but not a whole pizza.) I've been feeling hungry for specific things lately, which probably just means I've fallen victim to advertising, but still I can get a little credit for some awesome pregnancy cravings, right? Things I am wanting right now:

• Fritos - Salty, greasy chips! Dipped in something, please.
• Dinkels cake - Specifically our wedding cake. Which we didn't keep and freeze. That seemed really smart until I decided I wanted cake during high winds and rainstorms. I'm going to find some vanilla icing before the week is out. Come high winds, high water, whatever.
• Cheese - I almost always want cheese. This is not new.
• Chocolates with caramel... or peanut butter... or Butterfingers. Anything in a Halloween multi-pack really.
  
• Halloween Oreos - Love the orange cream, love the large amount of orange cream, LOVE!

Writing this was almost painful. Now I'm off to hunt down something at the library that will fulfill my wishes.

The sea is angry...

The weather forecast tomorrow, from the Chicago Tribune:

High wind watch for lakeside counties and lakeshore flood warning begin Wednesday afternoon. Morning showers build to steady wind-driven rain. Blustery, chilly. Highs in the upper 40s --- first sub-50 degree high since May 26. Northeast to north winds increase to 30-40 mph with gusts more than 50 mph in the afternoon. High waves could cause shore erosion and flooding. Rain, heavy at times, overnight. North winds 30-40 mph with gusts more than 50 mph.

B loves Tom Skilling, who reports on the weather and writes poetry like the forecast for tomorrow. I think Tom Skilling is wrong a lot, but that's OK. Tomorrow is a day for scrubs (since I have lab!), my yellow rain slicker, a hoodie and possibly more layers. I'll check for shore erosion and crazy waves from the safety of the library at school. Yikes!

What does this pickle need?

We get a weekly email about the growing baby-to-be (fetus, technically) -- how big it is, how I might be feeling, what new things the baby is growing or doing.

The emails are pretty cool, even though they don't usually match up to exactly how I'm feeling and sometimes the size comparisons are not foods as we prefer (gummy bear, Kit Kat, Brazil nut, martini olive, baked potato - all excellent). The most recent report says that the baby has expanded from being the size of a baked potato to the size of a "pickle from the corner deli" which isn't really a size difference I understand.

But the pickle email also said that we should start thinking about what the baby needs once its evicted from its current home.

The baby is fine just handing out here with me, but in less than 6 months the baby will need clothes, a bed, stuff to play with, diapers and all sorts of baby-accessories. And the baby probably won't like to share his or her (we'll know in less than two weeks) room with random coffee tables, boxes of books, purses, shoes, a wedding dress and several winter coats.

We've got to figure out what babies (our baby really) needs -- what we should buy, what we should skip, what we'll do that no one agrees with and what will fill up the little blue room, no longer full of junk.

Awesome autumn

Fall hit Chicago like a ton of bricks these last few weeks. We've gone from steamy summer to brisk, breezy fall. And it's heavenly.

B and I have been taking more walks, dusting off our soup-making skills, and finally turned on the heat (B thinks 58 is too cold for inside our house -- hrmph). I've been walking a lot, and mapping it all on Daily Mile to see how far I go - 14 miles so far this week.

School is excellent. It's tough and I've already started planning for when tough gets ridiculous when baby-to-be arrives in the middle of spring semester when I'm doing clinicals for adult health and community health, and taking pharmacology.

But school is terrific. I'm happy to be moving toward becoming a nurse, being challenged and seeing myself rise to the challenges. I got a 100 percent on my nutrition test. I did about average on my first pathophysiology test, but now I've got a plan in place to do better now that I know what to expect. (The director of my program said "that'll just go up" when I told her how I did on the patho test - good news!)

My lab instructor is a nurse at Children's Memorial and is the coolest guy ever. He makes me feel confident, answers all our questions and tells us how it really is to be a nurse. Now I'm home from a long walk, making a study guide out of some patho lecture notes, watching cooking shows on PBS, and thinking about making a pie... soon!

Here's my beautiful new niece Penny and me cheering on the Bears. If you want to get a person used to watching the Bears with Bears fans -- shouting, yelling, stuff-throwing and all -- you should start young. Penny is just 6 days old here! Go Bears!