Events

Her Majesty the Queen has punished the unspeakably foul dictator who has ruined Zimbabwe and thrown millions into starving poverty, by stripping him of his knighthood. This, on top of her government's ongoing finger-wagging and tut-tutting, will no doubt shame Robert Mugabe into better behaviour. Morgan Tsvangerai, you can go home now. Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama have finally spoken up, though. They are probably the two most influential people in the world on this matter, so perhaps—just...

In Chicago, we have an annual vehicle tax of $75. Many neighborhoods also have restricted parking zones; permits are $25. Both vehicle stickers and parking permits expire on June 30th. I mention this because I went to renew these things in person this afternoon down at City Hall. Yes, three business days before their expiration, I stood in line. How long? you wonder. This is city government, after all. Seven minutes. Chicago really is the city that works. I even had time to go to the County Assessor's...

I have returned from my latest travels, patted Parker, had a good night of sleep, and am offloading several hundred photos from two digital cameras. This, plus restocking my fridge, will take a little bit, so in the meantime: Paul Krguman explains why speculators have nothing to do with oil prices right now: Imagine that Joe Shmoe and Harriet Who, neither of whom has any direct involvement in the production of oil, make a bet: Joe says oil is going to $150, Harriet says it won't. What direct effect does...

Parker is two years old today. As is tradition, we all say: "awwww!" Also, this lovely armoire separates into four sections. The largest weighs two tonnes. I know this because a friend and I moved it yesterday. My doctor now knows this also. I haven't heard from my friend, so I can only assume he paid more attention to stretching and correct lifting techniques than I did.

You may have noticed the slowdown in TDP entries over the last month or so. By way of explanation, today I'm finishing everything with my mom's house, and tomorrow I'm formally winding up her estate. She would have enjoyed that the Cubs have the best record in baseball as of this morning (44-25), and tomorrow Parker turns 2. I hope to return to daily entries in a week or so.

My cousin and I have a 9-game package at Wrigley Field, game 7 of which was Tuesday night against the Braves. The Cubs won—despite dropping three runs in the first, never a good sign—on a warm but not sticky evening at one of my favorite places in the universe. Here's Fukudome stealing second: I have to say, though, that not every seat at Wrigley is good. Example: Section 525, any row, seats 1-2, look like this: Character. It's about character.

Ah, ribs. Possibly my favorite food. Living in Chicago, there are options. And every year, I get to sample as many of those options as my stomach lets me at the annual Ribfest up at Lincoln and Damen. The festival is going on this weekend, so yesterday I dragged Parker there. It's a 5 km hike, and it was hot, and despite my assurances that really tasty treats waited for him at the end of the walk, he seemed to think we were heading for Bataan. When we finally got to the festival, Parker seemed to catch...

Here's my current progress through the 30-park geas: City Team Park First visit Last visit Next visit Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field 1977 Jul ? 2009 Sep 14 Los Angeles Dodgers Dodger Stadium 1980 Jul ? 2001 May 12 [3] New York Mets Shea StadiumCiti Field [4] 1988 Sep ? [1] 1997 Apr 19 [3] 2011 Season Houston Astros Enron FieldMinute Maid Park [2] 2001 May 9 [3] 2009 Apr 7 [1] Milwaukee Brewers Miller Park 2006 Jul 29 [3] 2008 Aug 11 Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium 2008 May 28 2008 May 28 San Francisco...

On my geas to visit all of the Major League Baseball parks in the U.S. and Canada, I have some rules, one being to eat local food. Well, my dad just sent an article from tomorrow's New York Times that suggests I should always eat at the park: Hot dogs and peanuts still rule the food court, but I spotted signs of progress almost everywhere on my road trip. There were concessionaires that served humanely raised meat from the fashionable purveyor Niman Ranch. Phillies fans drank beer from biodegradable...

It had to happen some time. Tonight, though not officially part of my 29-park geas, I attended a, well, that is, I went to, um, you see, I was invited to go to a White Sox game. So, yeah. If you're not from Chicago, you may have trouble understanding why this felt so odd for me. I grew up on the North Side. I'm a Cubs fan. In 37 years I've never taken the El below Cermak Road. And yet, tonight, I went to the Cell. The upside: I can now actually go to all 30 parks that Major League Baseball accepts as...