Events

With the likelihood that Cassie won't get into daycare for another four weeks, I decided a lunchtime trip to the nearest dog park might help. We encountered a bunch of dogs on the way to Challenger Park, but only one surly old Bichon Frise inside the park. Yet she did not seem disappointed: She also avoided the puddles and the mud, for which I am grateful.

Cassie has had an adventurous and full day: several rides in the car, visits to three—count them—three pet stores, and lots of walks. At our first pet shop of the day I picked up a cord to secure her while in the car, which did not stop her from winding up in the driver's seat when I got back from running into the grocery. Exhibit: And just look at that punim! She'll get another half-hour of walks today. I really would like her to learn how to heel, though. She wants to say hello to every dog in...

Welcome to stop #44 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Emmett's Brewing Co., 110 N. Broadway St.Train line: Union Pacific Northwest, PalatineTime from Chicago: 56 minutes (Zone F)Distance from station: 100 m Another note about Metra, this one more positive than my rant about freight-train interference in Barrington. Metra formed out of the decaying husks of the region's passenger railroads over the course of two decades. In the past few months, as they've taken possession of new locomotives...

I seem to have a new addition to my family: The jumping-into-the-front-seat thing will not happen again, however. We're getting a car harness tomorrow. Updates as conditions warrant.

Well, if you're a climatologist, it's a calculated value based on a 30-year period, updated every 10 years. And the 19991-2020 climate normals for the US will come out this May. Meanwhile, the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has released some teaser images: NOAA senior science writer Rebecca Lindsey explains: These images are a sneak peak at how the new normals for winter temperature (top) and precipitation (bottom) are different from the current normals, which cover 1981-2010....

I'm shaking my head at email service provider Postmark, who four weeks ago announced they would be phasing out support for TLS 1.0 (a network security protocol). I understood this when they announced it in February, 60 days ahead of their cutover to TLS 1.2, but didn't think it applied to anything of mine. This morning they sent a more focused email saying, "you're getting this email because we can see that this applies to you." Panic ensues. Why panic? Because almost everything I've developed in the...

There is a non-zero chance that my household will expand by 100% this week. Stay tuned.

Welcome to stop #43 on the Brews and Choos project. Closed as of February 2023, according to their Instagram account. Brewery: Flesk Brewing Co., 200 Applebee St., BarringtonTrain line: Union Pacific Northwest, BarringtonTime from Chicago: 65 minutes (Zone G)Distance from station: 700 m Before talking about the brewery, let me talk for a moment about freight-train interference. This satellite photo shows Flesk Brewing adjacent to the Union Pacific Northwest line: The yellow line shows the direction from...

Most parts of the US and Canada entered daylight saving time overnight, spurring the annual calls for changing the practice: The so-called "Sunshine Protection Act of 2021" was reintroduced Tuesday by U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, R-Florida; James Lankford, R-Oklahoma; Roy Blunt, R-Missouri; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island; Ron Wyden, D-Oregon; Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi; Rick Scott, R-Florida; and Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts.   In 2018, Florida passed legislation to keep DST, but a federal statue...

This photo came up in my Facebook memories this morning: This struck me for a few reasons. First, as I noted when I posted it on Facebook the morning of 13 March 2017, we hadn't gotten any snow for almost three months that winter. No snow in January; no snow in February; no snow the first 12 days of March; then this crap. Second, four years later, Metra still hasn't finished constructing the new inbound platform at the Ravenswood station. Construction began in 2014. Then it stopped, partially because...