Things they do look awful c-c-cold

So remember when it was 65 degrees in January? That was 12 days ago. Right now it's -2 with a wind chill approaching -20. Weather.com says -7 with a -23 wind chill before sunrise tomorrow. I know it's Chicago and I shouldn't be surprised, but this is even colder than it was supposed to be and even for Chicago it's uncommonly cold. It's supposed to stay below 20 - which I usually consider to be the point where "cold" transforms into "bitter cold" - for at least several more days, with nighttime lows in the single digits (factor in wind and we could easily be looking at more below-zero effects). There's also a decent chance of snow for six of the next ten days. Always fun. So in less than two weeks the temperature will have dropped more than seventy degrees. That's horrifying. I can deal with the cold (although it sucks), but to have that 65-degree teaser as a prelude to weeks of bitter cold is just such a kick in the pants.

I never talked about my Christmas presents. Not a whole lot to say, I guess; my parents got me a new flat-screen monitor, which is pretty sweet. Still, I think the best present for sheer thoughtfulness and ingenuity came from Marian, who was up in New Jersey the morning of our "Christmas" (which was really December 29) and brought me back a turkey sandwich from the Millburn Deli, my second favorite food in history. It was delicious in spite of the four-hour car ride it had just taken.