Realm of the Wombat

C H A M P S

Yesterday, as the sun was rising over Chicago, I drove up the ramp onto Lake Shore Drive from Lawrence Ave. At this early hour, I was tolerating NPR’s membership pledge drive, considering any unresolved issues from our recent lab move, and cursing the CTA bus that just cut me off, when I saw something so amazing, so wonderful, that all of my worries and complaints melted away.

I had dreamed of this day for years, and driving in Chicago for several months only intensified my longing. But I was resigned to the improbability of it. In 11 years of driving, I had never witnessed the event, and nobody I had ever spoken to had either. But yesterday, the devil’s gaze must have been distracted somehow. I won’t blame you if you don’t believe what I’m about to tell you, but I was there to see the result.

A City of Chicago police officer had pulled over a taxi cab. And he had his ticket book out. And he was screaming at the cab driver.

Oh the glory of it all! If I ever see such a beautiful scene, I will surely go blind.

Odie’s link of the day: Where the Hell is Matt?

DT’s link of the day: Google Mars

I recently consumed a Nestle Crunch bar and found the message above inside the wrapper. As you may or may not know, I like winning things, so this made me happy. But see all that fine print there? What that says is that to get a coupon for a free Crunch bar, I have to send in the wrapper for “verification.” Apparently, some group of counterfeiters has decided to focus on candy bar contests instead of dollar bills or something. So in order to get a free Crunch bar, value approximately 60 cents, I have to spend 39 cents on a stamp and wait 6 to 8 weeks for processing. Is it safe to say that the terrorists have won?

I later noticed that the contest was over before I opened the wrapper in the first place.

Two down, two to go: Irish hockey advances

Best parking policy ever?

MelDandy ponders,

Do you think that in heaven, shows like Arrested Development and Freaks and Geeks aren’t cancelled?

And that, my friends, is why she’s a dandy.

Finally something good about American Idol: votefortheworst.com

One down, three to go.

Since my initial rant about things I miss about the Bay Area, my local Trader Joe’s has started stocking the calzones that were the staple of my weekend lab lunches at Berkeley. Oh happy day!