Windchilly

You'd think that you'd be be able to avoid the screaming child in the restaurant when you are going out to eat in the city at 8:30. Don't get me wrong; I like kids. They're fine. I especially adore my nieces, and sometimes they are even too much for me. But there's no child I hate more than the screaming one in the restaurant. My friend from college came in last night (who, by the way, is pregnant), and we went to dinner at a casual place in the city. But it was almost 9:00 at night. Who the hell brings a 3-year-old to a restaurant at 9:00 at night? And this kid, whom I call Damien, was clearly tired- maybe overtired. He was screaming "Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya YAAAAAA" over and over and over and over again. I understand that children do that. And I also understand that if you are sitting at home, your best bet might be ignore Damien's attention-seeking ploy. But for christ's sake, you are not at home; you are in a restaurant. There are other people in the room who do not find Damien charming, nor do they have the patience to wait for Damien to figure out that mommy isn't giving in this time. Mom and her friends got a big kick out of it. Then they finally looked in my direction and saw the disgusted look I was shooting at Damien. Then they looked around the restaurant and saw that everyone in the restaurant had the same disgusted look on their face. Mom was finally convinced it was time for Damien to take a walk. When he returned, their food had arrived so she stuffed his face with grilled cheese (I was so jealous) and he finally shut the hell up.

So it is -2 degrees today, which means the windchill factor is probably about -14. Do you have "windchill factor" in your city? Or is this the kind of thing weathermen make up in Chicago to account for our hideous winds? It means that, although it is -2, which feels pretty damn cold anyway, it actually feels like -14. Chicago is known as the Windy City not for the actual winds. Nevertheless, it is damned windy here. If you don't know, Chicago is called the Windy City because of the way it lobbied to get the 1893 World's Fair- bragging about the city like "blowhards" (imagine the Google hits I'm going to get this for having this word on my page) in order to win the bid. It's also called the Second City, because some New York newspaper columnist called us that, not because we actually think of ourselves as second to any other city. I know I don't.

This -2 degrees thing would normally mean I'd be on the couch all day and watch my backlog of Seinfeld episodes and catching up on grading. But my pregnant friend is here to shop for maternity clothes because the selection in St. Louis isn't very impressive. There is a fancy maternity store on Damen Ave. that sells maternity premium denim and all kinds of cute stuff. It almost makes me think I could tolerate being pregnant. Almost, but not quite. Then we'll head to Michigan Ave. to go to the Gap, which has a really huge selection of maternity clothes. We'll be only a few blocks from the lake, so we'll get a good sense of just how cold a -14 degree windchill is.

The credit cards are safely in the freezer, and they are not coming with me today. Actually, they'd probably stay frozen if I did bring them with me. I vow not to purchase anything today. I will report back later. The only thing I may buy is a parking spot. We should take the El, but walking to and fro the El in -14 degree windchill weather does not sound like something I want to do today.