I hope this post finds you in good spirits and health and you are in a spring state of mind. Some restaurants have put their outdoor seating out and I’m looking forward to some al fresco soup eating soon. Spring is also the start of the following seasons:

• Prom
• Tornado
• Air Show Disasters
• Backyard Trampolines Blowing Away
• Medical Waste Washing Up On Beaches
• Carnival Mishaps
• Cicada

And as Howard Beale said in the movie NETWORK;

We know things are bad…worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: “Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.” With all due respect Mr. Beale I want to eat soup outside.

Another sign of spring/summer in Chicago is the opening for the season of Mario’s Italian Lemonade on Taylor street over by dere. Mario’s is an iconic destination during the summer. I ran into Mario on Saturday as he was watching guys paint the outside of his stand for the May 1^st opening. I first met Mario over 30 years ago. We would send our producer Dan Falato over to bring us some of Mario’s ice back to the studio.

Shaved ice is nize! My wife and I had a nice conversation with Mario and he showed us a bird house he made for his daughter which is an exact replica of the Lemonade stand. Very cool. Then we went over to Target and I as I’ve stated recently on the show, it was hard to find any employees to help you find stuff and this has happened at other big box stores or am I just at these stores when employees are taking their lunch break? Here’s the bit, if you have a big box store have a sufficient number of employees. It seems as if these big box stores are going with a small box mentality.

FILL YOUR BOX!

Until next time, kiss your schnauzer for me.

Peace,
Garry