Today started early, since I got to bed earlier than anticipated. Room Service breakfast, pretty good, though they were kind of skimpy on the potatoes, and it was the first time I’ve ever had fresh asparagus spears as a breakfast garnish(unless I was meant to eat ‘em, which I didn’t) and I was out the door around noon.

My friends Carolyn, Patrick, Elaine and I went to the Navy Pier, one of Chicago’s tourist attractions, though a lot of locals also hang out there, there are some good bars and places to eat, plus a lot of good stuff for kids and I actually got to buy and munch on one of my favorite all time snacks, one I haven’t enjoyed since the last time I was on the Atlantic City Boardwalk: A funnel cake!

Funnel cakes aren’t complicated, they’re basically a carnie food of fried dough and powdered sugar, but man, they’re GREAT{even more than Frosted Flakes}!

We went for a 90 minute cruise on a four masted schooner named Windy– I couldn’t resist, had to drag the others along, of course, and I even got to help with the line handling. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we had lunch outdoors at Bubba Gump’s, a shrimp restaurant that I found quite good, then it was off to the Water Tower, a mall that isn’t much different from malls anyplace else, except for a glass walled elevator bank wherein you can see all the works and a cute stairstep styled marble fountain between the up and down escalators between the first and second floors that spits water bubbles straight up in the air. While we were at the Water Tower, I opened a T-Mobile Hot Spot account.

Claire, my stock broker friend, has invited me to dinner, but hasn’t told me where, so that should be a nice surprise. She’s not quite the party animal that most of my Chicago friends are, so I’ll have the opportunity to give my liver some quality time.

WELL….. I stand corrected, it appears, much to my surprise and undoubtedly the surprise of many others, that we are not alone where dealing with the New Orleans crisis is concerned, a number of countries have offered to help. I’ve been kind of out of touch with all the gallivanting around I’ve been doing since I got here, and when I got back to my hotel awhile ago, I found a comment by Dan Trabue of pacifist fame, http://www.paynehollow.blogspot.com , in which he informed me of my wrongness. Thank you, Dan. See? You’re not always a royal payne.

My linking icon has gone dim for some reason and the support folks at squarespace gave me a reply that was the laziest excuse for tech support I’ve ever received, maybe they ought to start employing the "Boyz From Bangalore," whom I’m sorry to say kick ass on Squarespace support. While I’m in DC, I’m going to spend at least one evening checking out alternative blog venues, maybe Blogger. Anyone got any suggestions?

More later.