April randomness...

I would just like everyone to pause for a moment and take in the fact that an entire quarter of 2013 is already over...

How did it go by so quickly??

I'm really not a fan of April Fool's Day... as I was perusing Facebook yesterday morning, I saw a story in my newsfeed that caught my attention. It was an official-looking "statement" that said Derek Jeter was announcing his retirement from the Yankees, he would not be playing this year, and he would be having a press conference before yesterday's opening day game. For a split second, my jaw dropped and my heart began fluttering in abject terror... and then my brain kicked in and said, "quit with the histrionics, idiot -- it's April 1st." Oh yeah... April 1st... the day when people think it's hilarious to play "jokes" on other unsuspecting people. Soooooo funny. Actually, I do enjoy seeing whatever Google comes up with every April 1st -- they always have some kind of silly link on their page...

So Chicago is in the news again for not-nice reasons... Eric texted me Saturday night to ask if we were safe and sound in our condo. This is not a question you want your police-officer brother to ask you, because it probably means something bad is happening out in the city... Last year, we had an issue with apparently really bored packs of teenagers from other areas of the city hopping on the train, coming downtown, and terrorizing random innocent strangers. And since the weather was warmer than usual this past weekend, all those bored (and might I say, extremely uncreative) teenagers connected with each other on Twitter -- they actually organized a mob -- and headed to Michigan Avenue downtown to cause trouble. Fortunately, we stayed in on Saturday, but it's not uncommon for us to be in that area, so it's really disconcerting when I hear about this sort of thing happening. What's even more annoying is that these kids don't even live around here -- they deliberately get on the train and come to neighborhoods that are generally considered "safe" and even "touristy." I really do love Chicago, but sometimes I wonder how long we'll stay before we move on to somewhere else...

Speaking of Chicago -- Return to Me is on on one of my movie channels right now. A lot of the movie takes place in a restaurant, and the restaurant they filmed it in is a place called Twin Anchors here in Chicago. If you're ever in Chicago, you HAVE to go to Twin Anchors -- some of the best barbecue sauce I've ever had... and I used to live in Texas. :) (And then watch Return to Me, so you can say, "hey, I've been to that restaurant!" Which is what I do every time I see this movie...)

Baseball has started again! And nevermind the fact that the Yankees lost their first game to the Red Sox... no matter... it was one game. Obviously the Yanks are trying to lull their opponents into a false sense of security. And, honestly, the Yankees ALWAYS seem to be slow to get started. I was somehow also sucked into another season of fantasy baseball, so we'll see how THAT goes... :)

Okay, I need to go figure out what I'm making for dinner -- happy April, everyone!