Archive for the ‘chicago’ Category

Chicago’s Olympic bid is a bad idea

I hope that Chicago is not selected to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

Recent polls suggest that the majority of Chicagoans are in favor of the city hosting the games.  Most opposition to the games has to do with the use of taxpayer money to fund the event.

While I am not comfortable with the use of my money to fund the International spectacle, this is not my principal reason for objecting to the summer games coming to Chicago in 2016.  I feel that the city is ill equipped to handle the games, potentially risking international embarrassment.  Furthermore, I feel that the ambitious construction plans that will be undertake will have a devastating long-term effect on city residents.

:: God knows the United States doesn’t need any more international embarrassments.

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St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago sucks

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated throughout the world, but Chicagoans commemorate the holiday with uncommon zeal.  The Chicago River is dyed green.  The city hosts not one, but two separate parades.  Bars across the city shamelessly abandon their distinctive character and embrace everything Irish, including odd green beer.

These traditions are all charming.  As a person of Irish descent – bokeen is a Gaelic name – I appreciate the enthusiasm for the holiday.  However, the observance of St. Patrick’s Day has one exceptionally dreadful side effect: a vast number of Frat Boy Meatballs pack virtually every bar in the city.

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Sears Tower is going to be renamed. Get over it.

Last week, it was reported that Chicago’s iconic Sears Tower would be renamed Willis Tower as part of a new lease agreement with London-based Willis Group Holdings.  The announcement prompted a negative reaction among many of my fellow Chicagoans.

To those who denounce the name change as an absurd affront to the character of the city: please, get over it.

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Narc on your neighbor to free up a parking spot

Meteorologists have recently determined that Mother Nature is contemptible bitch.  This fact is most obvious when she expresses her disdain for Americans by blowing bitterly cold air and dumping massive amounts of snow across the northern portion of the country.  Winter is always a challenging time for Chicago residents, especially in years when Mother Nature is particularly relentless in her frigid assault on the Midwest.

Automobile ownership presents an additional set of challenges for Chicagoans in the winter.  Parking in the city is scare, even during the summer.  Chicago residents spend countless hours toiling away with their shovels, in hope of unearthing a coveted parking spot on their block.   When the snow is finally cleared, they mark the spot with whatever junk they can find – old chairs, parking cones, milk crates and even small furniture.

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