First of all. Jaf congratulations on getting married. I hope the wedding went well and everyone got pissed.

Second. May I offer my insincerest apologies for not updating the blog for more than 2 months. There's no excuse except laziness and I happen to think that's a good excuse. Anyway I'll try to fill you in on what happened in March...

Here's a picture of a relatively small truck in Wisconsin. Americans fulfil their need for emblematic expression by decorating their vehicles and houses with flags. I'm not sure what would inspire someone to fly a flag from the roof of their car but it's actually quite common.

This is the crowning achievement of 20th century food manufacturing. According to the Krispy Kreme website each one of these doughnuts is 200 calories, a superb energy source. That works out at 0.25c per calorie which is bloody good value and that's why I'm now a donut fiend.

Here's me back at Savannah Ridge... feeling pretty happy with myself after eating 5 Krispy Kreme donuts.

This is the Chicago Blackhawks vs. Vancouver Canucks game. Ice hockey is to field hockey what destruction derby is to F1 racing. There are no rules except that the game is stopped every so often probably so the TV networks can run ad breaks. The referees adopt a laissez-faire philosophy towards violence on the rink. They are only supposed to intervene when a player has lost his footing and fallen on the ice. The fights are shown on the big screen so that the bloodthirsty fans can more closely observe this tragic mockery of sport.

For St. Pat's day they dyed the Chicago River green. The environmental impact is minimal because Chicago River has no ecosystem to speak of. On this day there was a parade, the streets were packed with people wearing green, and the bars were packed with people wearing green pretending they like guinness. Tis Irish, to be sure to be sure... That big white building is the Sheraton hotel where we stayed a little while ago.

Here is one of the stunning views of Chicago from the John Hancock observatory. To the east is Lake Michigan. Just below is one of Chicago's two beaches.

Here's me I think I just spoiled a nice sunset picture.

What a magnificent view of a beautiful city. It's a tribute to the glory of capitalism and the genius of humanity. However this picture fills me with melancholy because it can't last. One day the oil will run out (almost half is already gone and there's no more) and the cars will stop and the lights will dim and the planes won't take off. The energy shortage will cause those who own capital to more vigorously conquer the remaining resources so that they can continue the destructive business of production, which is the basis for their existence, and further subjugate those who don't hold capital power. This will begin the decline of the empire, which has now extended itself to wherever there is a market... blah blah blah I think I'd like to eat a donut now.

Weather. It's sunny, -10°C, no snow. Not too windy.

Weekend. Boring weekends make boring blog entries. Tomorrow is Presidents Day.

I was terrified about the idea of skiing. Every time I got to the top of the hill I was nervous. But surprisingly it's not too hard to learn. I was better at turning right than left. It's a wonderful feeling cruising down the slope and knowing that the only two possibilities are to keep going straight and pick up more speed, or to crash violently and roll down the hill.

A beer is needed to calm the nerves.

I hereby nominate Caryn for the David Hookes Memorial Trophy for Misfortune and Misjudgement for failing to navigate around some trees during her descent. Caryn showed the some of exceptional qualities needed to win an award of this nature by skillfully manouvering neither right nor left, then ploughing over a safety fence, before finally coming to rest in some evergreen shrubbery. Well done Caryn, you have represented Australia well!

Smooth Jazz Saturday. On Saturday we went out for dinner then took a taxi to the Green Mill. Unfortunately there was a line to get in and it was bloody cold. So we took another taxi to Rush St and found somewhere called the Back Room, sat down and listened to some jazz. It was some quartet playing but I never got their name. The performance was really enjoyable, if you like Smooth Jazz, you would have liked these guys. They played some classics like Say Yeah and Never Too Much. The guy on the keyboards was an ace; his solos were definitely the highlight for me. He had a micromoog synth, which was totally awesome! The dude on electric guitar was a great performer, very funny. They were going through this cheesy song called That's The Way Love Is. It was almost too romantic... until he stomped on a previously unseen distortion pedal and broke into a medley of rock songs including You Shook Me All Night Long, Foxy Lady, Smoke On The Water, etc. Then they returned to the love song. I wish I bought their CD.

Superbowl Sunday. The only reason NFL exists is to serve as a platform to deliver advertising to the American public. The people who watched the superbowl for its sporting content would probably also watch Big Brother for its value as psychological research and social commentary... Hey that was me!

This dude hangs around the bridges near Michigan Ave and busks with his sax. On Saturday, when I took that photo, the temperature was below zero, and it was fairly windy. What a champ!

On Monday lunch time I went out to Waukegen to apply for a social security card. On the way back to work I cruised through a speed trap on Washington Ave. The officer caught up and pulled me over. I stayed in my car because I was told that sometimes the police here are nervous and pull their gun if you open the door.

He asked for my licence, but I didn't have anything because I lost my wallet downtown. All I could give him was my passport, which luckily I had on me because I was visiting the social security office. He asked me to get out and hop into the back of his unmarked police car. His name was Officer Harvey. He then started writing out tickets for travelling 45 in a 30 mph zone, and operating a vehicle with no valid driver's licence. We chatted for a little while and then the tow truck arrived to take away my car. At the same time a taxi arrived to take me back to work.

In the taxi I read all the papers he had given me. First was a card which said my car has been siezed by The City of Waukegan, and $500 would be required to obtain its release. Additionally, towing fees are $170 + $35/day in storage. If my car is not picked up in 30 days, it is forfeited to the towing company. The other tickets were $75 for speeding and $75 for driving without a license. Then there was a personal recognizance record which says I must appear in court at 10:30AM on the 24th of February for the case of People Of The State Of Illinois vs. Rodney V Lorrimar.

The fare to back to Libertyville was more than $30 but all I could give the taxi driver was my last $22.37.

Anyway... after a lot of phone calls and faxes I got my car back on Wednesday. The DPI sounded helpful but they didn't send the fax about my WA driver's licence quick enough. However I think the hire company said the right things to the Waukegan Police Department Traffic Division because after they called Avis, I didn't need to pay the $500 release, or the towing fee. In court I will be able to plead not guilty and show my documentation (which is coming in the mail), so the total damage is only the $75 speeding fine + $22.37 taxi fare.

Hong and I went for a walk down to Gages Lake. Everyone was getting their vehicles bogged in the snow; it was hilarious! The locals were all out mowing the snow with their little machines, or shovelling it off their driveways. I got a chance to see the neighbourhood. Every fourth house has an American flag, which is quite disturbing.

The branches of the pine trees were weighed down with snow. When we pulled the branches, they sprung upwards and snow showered down everywhere. It was really fun. On Sunday we made snow men. It's quite easy, because all you need to do is roll the snow and it all sticks together. You can make a snow ball as big as you like, providing you're strong enough to roll it (1m diameter would be about the max). Ferdi, Jason and I had a snow fight. Ferdi hit me right in the ear. While he was celebrating a hit to Jason I ditched one at his head and hit him in the eye. What a great shot!!!

Without snow, this place is quite ugly. The trees are leafless, the houses all look exactly the same, there is grass everywhere but it's dying from the cold. However a fall of snow transforms everything and it's really beautiful. I wish I took some photos, sorry.

On Monday evening I went up Sears Tower. Obviously it was great views once I got to the top. However the bullshit before was hard to deal with. First step was a security screening where I had to remove all wallets, keys, mobile phones, etc, before passing through the gate. Then I had to buy a ticket ($12, twice as much as the art museum entry) before heading into a holding pen where we waited for about 5 minutes. Precious daylight was fading away. Then we were led into a darkened room and forced to watch a pointless tourism video complete with cheesy jazz background music. It lasted about 10 minutes. Our journey up and down in the lift was narrated by two dreadful cartoon characters on a video screen. Even up in the observatory we were not left in peace. While a two song jazz track was looped on the speakers, around the centre of the room were bland panels describing the history of Chicago. The panels were lighted so their reflections on the windows spoiled some of my photos.

I had expectations for the American art collection and unfortunately they weren't met. A lot of the pieces were furniture owned by rich people and portraits of the rich people from the 18th and 19th century. The furniture was tolerable, and I could see for example how the form of a couch drew attention to the fine pattern on of its upholstery (designed by a French immigrant). But the portraits were unpalatable. I can't really explain why. Perhaps because this was Martin Luther King Jr Day and we the museum visitors, all white, were looking at the portaits of rich white old dead people... While the gallery was attended by a gang of security guards, all black, who appeared to be very bored and slightly resentful of their guests.

So how does it compare to the Perth Art Gallery? Well I think it's a lot bigger. There were no classic Aussie landscape pictures. But there were nice paintings of water reflections, etc, in the Impressionist style. Perth Art Gallery has a decent area for indigenous painting (not just line & dot pictures either). But here there were only a few little drawings of Indian chiefs amongst the "Wild West" gallery. The rest were violent exhibits depicting the frontier battles. There were some really exciting bronze statues of American horsemen fighting the Indians. Back in Perth there are quite a few installation art pieces. In the contemporary American art section here there are none. However I haven't yet visited the entire museum.

This pianoforte was made in 1812. Poor bastards... it looks like a terrible instrument to play!

I went with Zillah, Brett, and Mary-Beth to Mickey Finn's to watch it on the big screen. Brett is an expat who has embraced the American lifestyle. Not only does he possess an impressive knowledge of beer brewing, beer appreciation, and beer in general, he also has a sound understanding of the rules of NFL, which he passed onto me.

The game was pretty boring. Chicago was failing to successfully distribute the ball forward and as such most of their play was buggerizing around within the 10 yards. The highlight of the game for me was when a Carolina forward received a perfectly placed throw from their quarterback, dummied the last defender, stepped around him and scored a touchdown. However displays of skill and flair like this are routine in an AFL game. I don't know how the Americans stay interested.

As for who to blame for Chicago's defeat... The Bears quarterback, Grossman, was conspicuous in not hitting his targets. Apparently this was his first game after a while of not playing NFL matches. However I think the main problem was their forwards not providing good leads for him to throw at. Additionally, if the quarterback is not well defended, he doesn't have enough time to make a good throw. Urlacher for Chicago was solid and a few times ran some yards in the right direction. Smith for Carolina was devastating and tore holes in the Bear's defense. Whoever was marking him just couldn't get close enough.

Although the Bears at one point managed to narrow the score gap, given their infrequent and limited attacking plays, I never seriously thought they were close to winning. Final score 29-21.

Funny disturbing story... we actually arrived too early and they hadn't opened yet so we decided to find a bar and have a quick drink. The bar we found was Andy's Piano Bar, which is a gay piano bar. I was like what the hell maybe they will be playing piano, but alas it was too early for that. When we got in Caryn went off to the washroom and I went and sat on a stool and got the drinks. That was a few very nervous minutes. I sort of just passed the time tapping my feet to the song (Blondie - Heart of Glass) and sipping on my cranberry & grey goose vodka, all too aware of the hungry stares of lonely men spaced evenly around the bar. Caryn was the only girl in there and I was very relieved when she got back. We chilled out for a while then some bloke ordered us a drink. Score! We're still not sure who it was for, so we shared it.

This weekend was a long weekend courtesy of Dr Martin Luther King Jr who worked his life to liberate white-collar employees like myself from the inconvenience of turning up on Monday. Thanks dude!

On Friday the Aussie crew from work went out for dinner at Firkin. I'm not sure whether it was a bar or restaurant and on that night it was pretty busy so neither aspect was great. The food wasn't too bad but we waited ages to get a table. Here's some trivia... here they call the main course "entree." And an entree is an "appetizer." Then checked out Mickey Finn's for one drink. I wasn't too impressed but this place is going to be the local so I'll need to get used to it.

Next day we made a pilgrimage to the First McDonalds Store replica in Des Plains, birthplace of the Big Mac. From this googie shrine restaurants sprouted across the globe. However the store was surprisingly modest: just a fenced off little shack, fandangled with neon tubes, and attended by uniformed mannequins. There was an operational McDonalds restaurant over the road but we decided to get Chinese for lunch instead.

From that kitsch fast food mecca we moved to an equally significant building: the Bahá'í Temple in Wilmette. The temple seemed to serve two purposes. Obviously it is chiefly a place of worship for Bahá'ís. Then it is also a way of attracting newcomers to the faith. Godless tourists who were visiting just to take pictures seemed to be more tolerated than welcomed. I found it challenging to invent an appropriately sincere expression of deference before entering the holy building. We were greeted in the visitors area by two representatives of the faith. I'm wary of those earnest religious types. First you listen to their spiel; then you ask a few questions; and next thing you know you're sitting in a bible study group going over the main stories of the Old Testament. It's happened to me before. But they were cool enough and not too pushy. One of them was disowned by his Muslim family in Pakistan because he became a Bahá'í. The faith is based on the message from Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892) who is the messiah, the second coming, the manifestation of God, etc. and the writings of the various prophets: Krishna, Zoroaster, Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and the Bab. Apparently all of these people are all in basic agreement with eachother. There are minor differences in the details. The example our guide gave us was that under Islamic law it is OK to kill non-Muslims. The Bahá'í however just don't use the nasty bits of the various religions and instead concentrate on what the prophets said. I'm not too sure what their position is on the big Catholic issues like abortion and gay rights, perhaps they just don't care. Anyway, after the introduction we checked out the main temple. While in there I took the opportunity to make a quick prayer for snow. None of the 9 prophets have delivered yet.

Today was an awesome sunny winter's day; it probably reached about 8 degrees around lunch. I needed to escape from work for a bit so I went for a cruise around the Libertyville town centre and basically it's all car dealerships and churches, no bull!. I spotted Mickey's, and have put it on my agenda.

A gaggle of geese have also come back to visit the technology park storm water lake. They stand on the road and leave goose poo everywhere. These birds are a little more mellowed out than the Lake Michigan geese I think the city life gets to them. Apparently there are also squirrels when it gets warmer. I can't tell you much yet about these little beasts except that I have briefly seen them and they are very small, very noisy, and very stupid.

As for the snow outlook, things are looking bad. If there's no improvement by Sunday I will need to formalize my request for divine intervention, and take it to the Lord almighty at a local place of worship.

I'm not sure what's happening this weekend but hopefully opportunities to behave badly will present themselves to me. As soon as my credit card is reactivated I'm buying a camera so I can write less words and put in more pictures. I never expected America to be so American and hopefully some photos will illustrate what I mean.

Cheerio!