Happy New Year!
As you may know, I spent New Years 2006 freezing in Times Square with half a million of my closest friends.
After vowing to never freeze on New Years again, I spent New Years 2007 on the Copa Cabana beach in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. There, along with 85 degree weather, and 3 million of my closest friends, I sported the traditional white wardrobe and rang in the New Year Brazilian style.
This year, continuing on the warm New Years' trend, I will be enjoying the New Year down in beautiful sunny Mexico. But do not worry, my friends Hope and Change are here enjoying the warm 80 degree weather with me!
Can we ring in the New Year in style? YES WE CAN.
I hope you enjoy your New Years bash wherever you are and best wishes to you and yours this upcoming year.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Year!
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Ice Man Cometh
Ice paralyzes area roads
December 26, 2008 at 8:51 AM
Some of the worst icy driving conditions in years hit the Chicago area early this morning, causing crashes too numerous to count.
"If we had the manpower, we'd close down every expressway in the area," a harried Illinois State Police dispatcher said this morning. State police called out day-shift troopers two hours early to handle the crisis.
Every expressway had multiple crashes in both directions -- even with many drivers creeping along at 5 to 10 m.p.h. Those going any faster often found they couldn't control their vehicles. The most recent incidents involved a jackknifed semi blocking all lanes of the outbound Stevenson near Ill. Hwy. 53 and icy conditions blocking all lanes on I-80/94 between the Illinois state line and Indianapolis Blvd.
And conditions were bad enough that officials closed the entire Indiana Tollway -- from the Illinois border to the Ohio border for a time. It's open again now -- but conditions remain icy.
CTA and Metra were reporting substantial delays on buses and trains, as well as some service suspension.
Police in southwest suburban Lemont took the unusual step of closing the entire village to traffic for about two hours, then reopened some key thoroughfares.
A freezing rain advisory elapsed at 6 a.m. The system started moving into the area around 2:30 a.m. and quickly spread over the entire metropolitan region, coating all roads with a thin, treacherous coat of ice.
The problem is expected to end as temperatures climb this morning, reaching the 40s later in the day. But until then, police warned drivers to slow way down or, better yet, to not even go out.
Complete Story
Good thing I made the midnight trek last night!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas!
I spent the day entertaining the crowd at Church Creek - Independent and Assisted living facility today. Here are some highlights:
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Bundled Up and Headed Back to Chicago
I am leaving sunny 30 degree Washington, D.C. en route for Chicago today. I am looking forward to seeing everyone, but not looking forward to the single digit temps! Over the weekend, the wind chill in Chicago was reported as -30. Oh my!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret
Dec 22, 9:52 AM (ET)
By MATT APUZZO
WASHINGTON (AP) - It's something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where's the money going?
But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it.
"We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it,'" said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. "We have not disclosed that to
the public. We're declining to."
The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest?
None of the banks provided specific answers.
Complete Story
