no "off" switch

Day 16 in Chicago and I am enjoying it here more and more. Slowly I am getting over my home-sickness. The weather has not been good. Anyone who thinks Minneapolis has worse weather than Chicago is crazy. It is normally temperature wise a little bit warmer in Chicago but because of the constant wind from the lake, only three of the 16 days have I said it was warm out. How was your weekend? Mine was very nice. Friday night, I decided to meet Jim for dinner. We had long talked about eating at this legendary Evanston diner called The Chicken Shack. With it just being Jim and I, and there being no vegetarians present, we decided to feast on poultry. As we arrived, immediately I felt out of place - not in a nervous, but in a comical way. Upon arriving to The Chicken Shack, I felt like I was in a Dave Chappelle skit about stereotypical black people. I was just waiting to see Charlie Murphy eating a watermelon and drinking an Olde English. There were some gentlemen listening to rap music in one corner, some older African Americans playing a dice game in another. Jim and I loved it! The food ended up being good. It was like a less healthy Popeye's Chicken but twice as tasty. After we left The Shack, we relaxed at Jim's apartment for a few hours and talked about life, told old jokes, and enjoyed the company. At about 9:30, we headed back to my place where I met about a half a dozen friends. A couple of Captain Morgan's later and I was buzzing pretty good. At about 11:00, we decided to meet one of our friends at a Lincoln Park bar called Kendal's. It looked fun but at $25 as a cover fee, we decided to head next door to a bar that escapes my memory. We made the right choice as it turns out. Absolut Vodka has a new drink coming out called Absolut Mango. There were Absolut girls walking around handing out free shots of Absolut Mango and Sprite. After a few of those, plus what I had before, I was feeling no pain. Anay, Anay's Allie, and I actually stayed until bar closing before we met another friend and headed home. After an exhausting but fun Friday, Saturday was much more casual. I watched the Cubs game, accompanied Ann while she shopped, and watched one of the funniest Saturday Night Live episodes I have ever seen. Will Ferrell was brilliant as the host from start to finish. Green Day was excellent and there were so many great cameos including Tom Hanks, Norm McDonald, Paul Rudd, Ann Hathaway, Amy Poehler, and others. After being down for a couple of seasons, Saturday Night Live is back to being hilarious again.