Signs of the Times

I've been meaning to blog for days, but keep getting interrupted. First, I wanted to share some signage that I have been admiring on the way back from acupuncture for the past several weeks. These two signs are of a genre that is fast disappearing in the U.S., or at least around Chicago, or at least around neighborhoods I commonly travel through in Chicago, but I've seen this style in Zimbabwe and I remember also seeing it in Tanzania. I pass these Chicago stores heading east on Augusta from Oak Park, when I can't deal with the expressway and decide to take the scenic route home. For your viewing pleasure, the M&M Food Mart and the One Stop One Shop. The Coca Cola logo in particular has a Tanzanian feel to it, I think.

Anyway, I've been interrupted by bad things happening with respect to my car. No one has been hurt, but many hours have been spent dealing with the consequences, first, of locking my keys in the car last Monday while gassing up on the way back from acupuncture; second, thieves who broke into our garage in the early hours of Saturday morning and stole my car radio/stereo and garage door opener; and, three, an accident that happened earlier today, my fault, in which I rear ended a window washing truck. We were heading west on Ontario, near State Street, toward the I-94 Xway. I was in the middle lane, behind a window washing truck, looking for an opportunity to change to the right lane. I saw it, seized it, and was looking over my right shoulder to make sure my blind spot was clear when the guy in front of me stopped suddenly. My left headlight hit his right bumper. The rest you can see for yourself in Exhibit C, to the left and below.

No one was hurt, but I had to go to the police station, I was late for acupuncture, and when I was home I had to spend quality time on the phone with Geico to report the accident and make an appointment with their certified repair shop for Thursday afternoon. So I will shove another afternoon down the same black hole that gobbled up last Saturday afternoon and last Monday afternoon my other two car-related mishaps.

On the health front, I had a CT scan this a.m., no results yet, and my port flushed and my blood labs drawn, so I am all ready for chemotherapy tomorrow at 8:30. I will post results of the CT scan as soon as I have them. Now I'm headed off for a nap. Good evening, all.