I still need to do some high-altitude maneuvers (clouds were about 2800 ft, too low for slow turns and stall practice), but I finished much of my biennial flight review today. Interested people who have Google Earth can download the KML file.
There's a write-up of last night's storms in the Trib:
Clean-up efforts were under way Tuesday morning after a line of severe thunderstorms moved through the Chicago area Monday night, downing trees and power lines, starting fires, peeling off roofs, briefly closing down both Chicago airports and ending a Cubs game after two rain delays.
As of 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, crews from the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation responded to reports of 1,104 damaged trees, 132 malfunctioning traffic signals, 55 damaged street light poles and 92 downed wires. The department said there were also 194 city blocks without working street lights.
...but only because I got to watch it from inside my apartment. A major squall drove through Chicago this evening with 90 km/h winds (including two small tornadoes) and dime-size hail reported. My neighbors across the street have lost power, too. We didn't, but the Inner Drive Technology International Data Center battery backups complained loudly through the worst of the storm.
It's gone now, which makes Parker happy for two reasons: he didn't enjoy the storm itself, and he really, really wanted to go outside.
Here's the radar image from Intellicast:
Via friend RU, a blog about...well, really hideous cakes.
Yes, we still have to wait almost 169 days and 3 hours until he's sworn in. That aside, today is Barack Obama's birthday.
The four-park sprint (and seeing some really great—and really patient—friends along the way) has ended. I'm off in a few minutes to restock my fridge and, at 4pm on the nose, to pick up Parker.
Sweeping Milwaukee into Lake Michigan?
Does anyone, any longer, doubt the Cubs are the real thing this year?
My four-game sprint through part of the 30-Park Geas ended last night, with another home-team loss. Here's what that looked like at 9:40 (yes, the game was that short):
Mid-game, instead of the customary sausage race, they had a president's race. Apparently Teddy hasn't won yet—possibly because of things like this, where he's being sacked by Screech the Eagle:
Obligatory home-plate shot of the star player:
And, finally, obligatory shot of the main gate, but this time from a different angle than usual:
Apparently, I'm anathema to home teams. I've just attended another home-team loss, this time the Phillies beating the Nationals 2-1.
I will say, however, that when it's 2-1 at the top of the 8th, it looks really bad for the park to empty out. Yes, the 8th: guys, one run in the 9th is not unheard of. Sheesh. With fans like that, it's hard to feel sympathy.
Photos tomorrow morning (probably).
Quick update: The Cubs are 7-0 over the Brewers in the top of the 9th at this writing, which more than makes up for watching a lackluster loss in 32°C sultriness.
All right. I'm caught up now. Herewith, Yankee Stadium, where they lost last night against the last-place Orioles:
And this, boys and girls, is what a grand slam looks like before it's a grand slam:
Finally—and I promise this is the last one, only because I don't know where Washington's city hall is (or even if it has one)—here is New York City Hall:
Now, in a little while, I'm off to the Sena–er, Nationals game, at brand-spanking-new Nationals Park.