A co-worker and I were surprised together at a comment she said she had heard multiple times this Saturday, when there was a St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Normal (which, we were pleased to note, had been a real boon for business). She said some people coming in with their kids for the parade had commented that they'd been in town a while but ( Read more... )

Up until recently, (I forget whether it's 5, 10 or 15 years), the town of Normal was dry. No bars. No liquor stores. Now it makes sense that there is a weekend tradition of a line of walking students between Illinois State University and downtown Bloomington. The large student-dominated dance bars and music venues are not in Normal, where the ( Read more... )

Dear members of the State Senate who are resisting creating a quorum ( Read more... )

As of today, both the House and Senate in the Illinois Statehouse have passed legislation allowing for a legally-recognized civil union for gay couples. If signed by the governor, the law would take effect next June ( Read more... )

The latest rumor in state politics: former governor Rod Blagojevich is considering running for the office again ( Read more... )

In speaking this past weekend with a worker with a non-profit organization that meets with farmers and owners to spread information on and techniques of sustainable farming practices, we heard a real eye-opening bit of information. In this area, a vast amount of acreage is owned by absentee landlords who rent out the land to farmers who may not ( Read more... )

This week, we visited with a realtor to start the process of finding the house we want to buy in Bloomington-Normal. We looked at one prospective house, but the lightning of love didn't strike ( Read more... )

During the visit from Anna and Andrew, we traveled an hour north to Starved Rock State Park, which bills itself as "one of the Seven Wonders of Illinois." Our hike was vastly more pleasant than the wonder that is Chicago rush-hour traffic. But seriously, the other six wonders are other lovely parks and historic architecture, described at the site ( Read more... )

I originally threw some ideas together after reading Kate Beaton's post about her friend in New York who can't afford care for a chronic condition. I was inspired to finish the post by listening to the president try tonight to verbally smack Congress upside the head and tell them to get on with hammering out some real reform already.
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Ran into what appears to be a north-of-the-border/south-of-the-border and east-west Canada linguistic tangle recently. It's really frustrating because I can't really find out whether I'm in the wrong or in the right or neither ( Read more... )