Cougars and Earthquakes and Popes Oh My!

What a week! So much is happening that the mother board in my little brain overloaded and shutdown. Where to begin? Let's start with the fact that like Carole King, at about 4:30 this morning I felt the earth move under my feet. Thankfully I did not feel the sky tumblin' down, tumblin' down. Mother Nature decided that the Midwest had not endured enough, what with an extended winter followed by tornadoes and flooding, and decided to rock and roll the joint with an earthquake that measured a 5.2 on the Richter scale. I'm no seismologist, but that seems pretty strong to me. It was so strong, that despite the epicenter being about 240 miles South of Chicago, the tremors were felt all the way to Milwaukee to the North and Marietta (home of the big chicken) Georgia to the South. The shaking woke me up, but I didn't realize why I was awake and went right back to sleep. "Wife" however had a different reaction. I'll save you her theory as to why the bed was shaking violently enough to wake her up. Suffice it to say it involved me and an unholy activity. Why that was her first response, I'll never know, but once that thought left her dirty mind, she realized that neither Jerry Lee Lewis nor I were responsible for the whole lotta shakin' that was goin' on. I feel sorry for "Wife". One of the main reasons she gave me for fleeing the temperate climate of sunny Southern California was her almost paralyzing fear of earthquakes. To be roused from slumber by a quake in Chicago is the ultimate irony. It's as if she's being stalked by what she fears most. Well, maybe not what she fears most judging from her initial hypothesis as to the cause of the shaking.

I should stop now, but since this post has such a clever title, I better cover the other topics quickly. A cougar was shot by Chicago police the other day as it roamed untethered through a neighborhood. No, it wasn't a randy soccer mom on the hunt for a playmate, that's what I thought too, but an actual cougar. I won't bore you with the science regarding why cougars are now walking among us, but it's a little freaky. Some of the more unenlightened were angry with the police for killing the majestic cat. According to these animal lovers, the police should always be carrying tranquilizer guns in the off chance they run across a 150 pound killing machine that walks on four legs instead of two. I'm not a proponent of wholesale animal killings, but if I were heading down an alley and a cougar turned to come at me, I've got two words for you, Fire Away! Cougars are hard wired to do one thing, be cougars, which means, stalk, kill and eat things. I'd rather have a dead cougar than hear of a kindergarten kid becoming the blue plate special at the wilderness cafe.

If you couldn't tell from all the funny hats, the Pope is in the country. This is Pope Benedict 16 (I didn't look up the Roman numerals) first visit to our country. Yesterday he met with victims of clergy abuse and apologized to them. He's been having to answer questions about that issue since he touched down. It's about time. I know that sitting with the Pope can't erase the horrible things that happened to the victims, but it's good to see him make the effort after all the years of covering up the church has done in this country.

All right, I gotta run. I've got some highly technical projects I need to attend to and I'm procrastinating like Pat O'Brien is leading me down the long hall to my date with the chair. I really have no more diversions I can justify, so it's off to work. Don't miss the big show on WGN tomorrow night/Sunday morning. I could tell you we have a fun, entertaining and informative program planned, but if you listen, you already know that, so I'll just tell you that you won't be disappointed. Have a great weekend. Later...Brian