This week I learned that one of the 16 identified victims of the Surfside collapse was only 26 years old. From the Miami Herald: Luis Bermúdez, a 26-year-old man from Puerto Rico and 7th floor resident of Champlain Towers South, was killed in the collapse, according to family members who announced his death on social […]

We visited some friends in Urbana the week before last—at some point, as we talked about our home town and its problems, one asked, “Do you know people who have actually moved away?” We do. One couple left after the second round of looting last summer. Two other couples probably were on their way out […]

Today I went in for my annual chest MRI. It’s annual because way back when I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. When I was scheduled for a procedure called an ablation, pre-procedure imaging showed that my aorta was on the large size. My cardiologist said it might be nothing—I might just be a big-aorta guy. […]

This past Friday, Chicago dropped most of the pandemic restrictions. We still are required to wear masks on public transportation (something I think I may do forever) and in certain other circumstances like schools, medical facilities, etc. (All of this relaxation applies only to vaccinated people—how we can tell who’s whom, I don’t know.) Also […]

I went to a White Sox game Saturday—it’s my fifth visit this year and it was technically my sixth game because one of my visits was a doubleheader. The park was still limited to 60 percent plus an all-vaccinated section of the bleachers that didn’t count against the 60 percent. Unlike the first couple games, […]