Been fairly busy with work-related writings lately, and the last couple weeks have been fairly unspectacular. It's either been really hot and muggy outside, or rainy and muggy. Making any outdoor activity pretty un-enjoyable.

A couple interesting things happened, though, I suppose.

The Cubs, with their taking of this recent series with the Cardinals, took the lead in the NL Central. Honestly, I don't really give a damn about baseball. Haven't since I was in grade school. But I can't help but get a little excited about it this time of year in Chicago.

Sure, it was great when the Bears made the Super Bowl, but if the Cubs make the post-season, I think it'll have more of an effect on this city. The thing about the Super Bowl that sucked was that the weather was terrible. It was so cold that weekend that nobody could bear to spend more than two minutes outside. So unless you lucked out and got a table at a bar, you were literally left out in the cold. (Of course, it didn't help that they laid an egg during the game and ruined the tenor of whole evening. I suppose if they had won the streets of Chicago would have been overrun with fat, shirtless men despite the subzero temps.)

If the Cubs make the post-season, the coldest it's likely to get is in the 40s, which isn't enough to prevent even marginal fans like myself from making their way up to Wrigleyville during possible elimination games. The simple fact that there'll be actual series' instead of just 1-2 playoff games also means a Cubs push will likely have a stronger effect on the city than the Super Bowl. If they were to actually make the World Series, that would mean they could play upwards of five games at the Wrig. Each of them would bring borderline hysteria to any bar within 5 miles of the neighborhood. That's a hysteria I'd love to be a part of.

Also, saw one of the funniest/most random things I've seen on a Chicago street thus far. I'm crossing Division at Division and Ashland and there's this younger black woman (early 20s probably) is yapping away on her cell phone as she crosses the street about five feet in front of me. Walking the other direction is a haggard-looking older black man who's wearing that general look of irritation most homeless people have. Just as he approaches the girl on the phone in leans into her and screams angrily in her face, "I AIN'T GOT NO PHONE, BITCH!"

She turned to me as he passed; "Oh no he didn't!" She said.

"Yeah he did," I said shaking my head and chuckling.

(I feel compelled to mentioned that just before this happened another bum whipped his junk out next to the magazine stands by the vacant Pizza Hut at the intersection and started pissing away. Streams of people walked past as he did this [it was about 9p on a Friday]. Nobody broke stride or even paid an ounce of attention to him.)