tax refund/economic stimulus (birthday shoutouts yo.)

(this image can be seen in context here.) a governmental gift of shrubbery.as you get that money back from ol' uncle sam's back pocket, cnn warns that you may want to watch out for "aggressive" sales tactics which could send you on an unprecedented buying spree! click here for that message. as you can see from my previous post, i didn't get the memo soon enough. (of course we went from having two cars to one in chicago - after the car was totaled on the street by an elderly man with a larger vehicle - back to two cars as chattanooga does not have mass transit like the windy city.) awe shucks! as for chicago (and the insanely high price of gas - say a little prayer for the cab drivers trying to feed their families), i definitely miss riding the "eL" and not having to fill up the gas tank as often, but surely DO NOT miss the smell, crowding, standing-up while riding, and vomiting fellow travellers.
just a quick crazy story; wendy and i went out for halloween in chicago and were riding the train and came to a stop around the redline southport/addison area. i look up and there's a guy i went to grad school with standing directly outside of the doors' windows. it was colin mcdonald and he was carrying a chair and a length of rope. a costume i suppose/hope? another time we were on the train and noticed that a young guy had a snake around his neck. what the heck? here's the original post as seen on the CTA tattler. (thinking of snakes and the story of st. patrick driving snakes out of ireland: happy st. patrick's day!)
oh yeah, I almost forgot...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOHN RINGHOFER! (16TH of march)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM (LINDA BUCKNER)! (17TH of march)
two of the kindest, most likable people you could ever meet (and i've been fortunate enough to get to hang out with in life).
(i'm not wearing green! i just realized.)