Spring Cleaning

Yes, I do think Spring has sprung itself here in Chicago.

We reached a whopping 88 degrees (31 C) yesterday. My nascent plum-tomato plants to which I've so carefully tended on my 49th floor balcony have finally decided to grow a bit, thus indicating that I've not actually killed them. Yet.

I have these floor-to-ceiling windows which span twenty feet wide. Since my little-bitty sky-condo faces west, I usually only open the blinds at night after the sun goes down, or when there's a snowstorm, or when I want to impress someone with the night view.

Other than that, they generally stay shut. 49th floor view notwithstanding.

But it was a pretty, sunny morning, so I opened the blinds.

Oh my god!, That's a lot of horrible grungy glass to see!
Eight months of snow and cold-fronts had assaulted my morning views.

I remember having to scrub the windows of my grandparent's dry-cleaning store with vinegar, water and newspapers. My grandmother (Budgie) always told me that nothing cleaned windows better than vinegar, water and old newspapers.

The only vinegar I had was some expensive Balsamic imported stuff from Modeno.
I read all my news online.
I recycle everything I can.

Times have, indeed, changed a bit.

So I substituted my window-cleaning solution with KaBoom, warm water, and a new, white, terry-cloth towel that I'd bought at Bed, Bath, & Beyond-Your-Budget, specifically for when Lorraine will be here.
(She knows how I feel about towels, so don't get me started.)

I scrubbed and scrubbed with the hot water and KaBoom.

It's a darn good thing that I'm a good six-foot-three and can reach to nine feet above with a KaBoomed terry-cloth towel on my tippy-toes!

And bare-footed. In my shorts. While everyone across the street, from the 50th floor up, was probably drinking coffee and laughing at me. . .

Afterward, I took a look at the view from my living room windows!
No more snow-grunge!

One can practically see Des Moines while watching my Tivo. (Click on that pic. Really. Just to see how clean my windows are!)


I also took a pic of my neat-o apartment building, looking up from the plaza.

See the balcony just ten floors from the top?

With the nascent tomato plants peeking over the the balcony? . .

No? You can't see that? (Click on the pic)

It's wayyyy up at the top.
Look closer.

See? No?

Shucks, I'm just messin with ya!

My balcony is completely on the other side. . .

Super Bowl

As a Chicagoan, I have mixed feelings about the outcome of the Super Bowl.

First of all, I didn't watch it because I think football is stupid. You have a bunch of big guys smashing into each other. Then for the next five minutes, they plan on how they're going to smash into each other again.

One one hand, I'm glad the Bears didn't win because then you'd have millions of Chicagoans screaming "We won! We won!" and I'd be screaming, "No, You had absolutely nothing to do with it!" (As a matter of fact, Chicago has nothing to do with it either).

And then they'd beat me up.

On the other hand, I don't like the fact that the Colts won because of Peyton Manning. He's blond, tall, athletic, and a great-looking guy.

Blond, tall, athletic, great-looking guys get idolized way too much in this society. Now that he's got a Super Bowl ring, there'll be no stopping it.

All because he tells other guys to smash into each other.