Am I Still Dancing? You Bet!

Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy (Moreno J Remix)

Ducks Winter Swim

Can someone please tell these turkeys to get out of the water -- it's chilly outside 🙃 ...

Pizza Rome/Chicago

They call it 'deepdish' in Chicago and 'pizza rustica' in Naples or Rome (source):

Crowd of People at Riviera Theater

Crowd of people stretching down the street waiting to get into the Riviera Theater to see the group Psychic Fever (Sat. 2/8).

Prohibition 2.0

Well, I guess it's the 20's all over again (looking at my calendar). The Chicago Suntimes comes out with a repeat prohibition article:

Gen Z Is Drinking Less — And It's Changing Chicago's Social Scene Chicago was once dubbed the “Greatest Drinking City in America” by GQ magazine. But Gen Zers are putting down the booze and seeking out nonalcoholic options instead. (Link)

Psss, don't tell anyone but as teens, the only way we could acquire alcohol was to hang out in front of the liquor store and ask people going inside if they could buy us a bottle. Eventually someone would say 'yes'.

Mentioned in Der Spiegel Magazine Article

It's been a while but I just noticed a mention in the German weekly Der Spiegel:

"Hönkel jedenfalls hat Spuren hinterlassen, sogar in Chicago: Dort erinnert der Publizist Leo Klein aktuell an den „Summer of Hönkel“ in Berlin 1987". (link)

[Translation: 'Honkel in any case left traces, even in Chicago: there publicist Leo Klein remembered the period in the blog entry: "Summer of Hönkel in Berlin 1987.']

Talk About Robbery (Soc. Sec. Edition)

Lot's of talk about the Social Security increase for goverment workers (NPR article). Love how it focuses on pension recipients -- and completely ignores those of us who got tricked into signing up for the State's 401k option. I mean, once they got you to sign up for that, there was no possibility to ever go back to the state pension plan. I know -- I asked!

Even worse, not only would you be cut off from the state pension plan but there was no possibility to sign up for Social Security. I know because I asked if I could make voluntary payments to Social Security. They laughed.

What a double whammy :-(

Secrets of Library Science (Academic)

Secret Part 1 -- They Call It 'Teachable Moment':

Important to remember: the student is there to learn something. You don't look up the article -- the student does! You're there to make looking up anything a 'teachable moment'. That's your job, that's your responsibility. We all come out better for it!

Secret Part 2 -- Problem Finding Something?

If you're helping a student search for something and nothing turns up: Encourage the student to try another search term or database. Things can be hard to track down but there are a variety of sources to look up -- and a variety of search terms one can use to find them.

Nice Lunch on a Nice Day

Finishing up on lunch -- 1/2 sandwich then the usual fruit combo (1/2 orange, 1/2 apple, dozen grapes) -- inside the Whole Foods building at #lincolnbelmont

New Year's Dinner

Had a nice New Year's dinner of bbq ribs, fried chicken, french fries. Now where's the ice cream? #LeftOvers

Addition to the Collection: 'Complete Home Medical Guide'

Found this hefty tome ('American College of Physicians Complete Home Medical Guide') out on the street in one of those book boxes.  It's from 1999 but in almost new condition -- so I just couldn't resist ... 🙂

Full title: "American College of Physicians Complete Home Medical Guide", 1st ed. (1999) with CD-ROM.

Just Call Me ... Health Care?

Here's something we learned from the Europeans: You don't go to a ‘Dot-Com’ for Healthcare!!!  

P.S. Just call me, Carl Marks ... 😉

Famous Last Words

• 'Download Our App' -- Offer I generally tend to avoid  (1)
• 'Artificial Intelligence' -- Phrase at which I stop reading and leave the room

-------------------------------
1)  I mean I gotta download a separate 'WebApp' for every website I go to?  No thankyou!  So user-unfriendly!  So unnecessary!

1st & 2nd Thoughts of the Year

Wake up on New Year's Day and 1st thought is:

Polish sausage with mustard, relish, grilled onions & pickle ... 2 please :-)

2nd Thought of the Year (this one was obvious):

From now on only eat fried-chicken ... :-)

Nice New Year's Concert

Really really nice New Year's Eve performance by Corky Siegel, Ernie Watts and The Sons of the Never Wrong; took place at the Music Institute in Evanston! Started at 8p and lasted till -- you can imagine when :-)