Events

Not only have we had the wettest year ever so far, but summer has officially arrived today with our first 32°C reading since September 2nd. (It's only 30°C at IDTWHQ right now; 33°C officially at O'Hare.) What I'd like—it's a small request, I think—is a good run of 25°C days with sun and a cloud or two for variety. You know, maybe three in a row? No rain, no cold, no sweltering heat, just relaxing summer weather.

Kodak is discontinuing Kodachrome: [T]he Rochester-based company announced today, it has ceased production of a household name, Kodachrome, its oldest color film, that it manufactured for 74 years. ... Photojournalist Steve McCurry's portrait of an Afghan refugee girl, shot on Kodachrome, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. At Kodak's request, McCurry will shoot one of the last rolls of Kodachrome and donate the images to the George Eastman House museum, named for the company's...

As of yesterday, Chicago is having its wettest year ever. That is all.

Two unrelated topics in one post? Preposterous. Unacceptable. And yet. First: my previous post reflected the difficulties in typing on a tiny G1 keyboard, which magnified the annoyances in maintaining a blog in the first place. Two entries disappeared after unintentional finger sweeps, and don't even get me started on the difficulties of adding an actual hyperlink from my phone. On the other hand, I can post from my phone, which I find so cool it makes me giddy. I do feel like someone living 80 years...

I was going to post about the virtues of the Cubs and the T-Mobile G1, but the latter revealed its limitations while I used it to extol the former. Suffice to say: Cubs won, G1 tied, and it's time to go inside.

The Chicago Reader has another article on the Chicago Parking Meter Debacle, this time examining who got rich off it: Not only did William Blair advise the city on the deal—it came up with the idea in the first place. Then it provided the city with the only estimate it ever received of what the system was worth and coordinated the bidding process. Two other financial services firms and three law firms were brought in to assist. All were given no-bid contracts for the work, and all appear to have...

Oh, good game. Very good game. It looked grim until the bottom of the 8th, when the Sox gave up a 4-run lead as the Cubs tied it up. Then Alfonso Soriano earned his paycheck today with a game-winning RBI in the 9th. I also have to say, my new phone is so friggin' cool, it can do this:

Chicago mayor Richard Daley has possibly committed the city to an enormous public expense for the 2016 Olympic Games: Faced with losing the 2016 Summer Games to competing cities offering full government guarantees, Mayor Richard Daley made an about-face Wednesday and said the City of Chicago would sign a contract agreeing to take full financial responsibility for the Games. In a worst-case situation, such as severe cost-overruns or a catastrophic event, the agreement could leave taxpayers on the hook...

...against the White Sox at Wrigley. Which, believe it or not, is more humiliating for them than the revelation that Sammy Sosa tested positive for steroids in 2003. Neither of these things, you understand, is a surprise.

The fuzzy dude is 3 years old today. Obligatory baby picture: That's his Petfinder mugshot from when he was about 8 weeks old. Here he is today: For his birthday he got extra soft food with breakfast, two Newman's dog treats, and some fresh ground parmesan on his lunchtime kibble. And an extra belly-rub.