Back in the late '80s/early '90s, the Chicago cafe scene was the match of nearly any city. And one particular joy was how many of them were open until 2 or 3am, sometimes more. I'm not talking about Denny's-type establishments, but small, hip cafes. But now it's 2:40am, and if I want to head out to a cafe, there's nothing that I know of. When I came back to Chicago in in the early '00s, the cafe scene was almost decimated, replaced by chain commuter coffee places. It's now beginning to fill out again, but none of them are open late. Cultural change? Rent prices too high to staff that late? Places I just don't know about? Several other major cities this is just not a problem.

It's going to get worse before it gets better. Cold stuff comin' thru. This is what we get for such an easy December. Last year, it was coldest December here on record, but after that was done, it was a very mild rest of the winter. This year I guess it's the inverse. I liked it the other way around. I guess I'll stay in this weekend. Good time to get some quality reading in. I'll have to make the most of the balmy Thursday tomorrow. Maybe hit the beach.

Yep, it's very much winter. Down to 5° at night. Not cold by some standards, but dang cold by my own. Ah the joys of living here. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's dumping snow here. Not the 7 ft of snow Boulder once got, but that's a whole different climate out there.

Snow is actually the one thing I kinda like about winter. I just don't dig the cold. At some point, whoosh, I'm outa here. But where?