Equilibrium

Here I sit, just after 11 pm on a Saturday night, after a reasonably successful weekend, despite my pathogenical handicap in the form of an increasingly nasty cold. The bulk of my diet for the past three days has consited of Halls, Day-quil, and Ricola (and was my entire lunch on Thursday,) and sinus pressure has gone from bad to worse. However, once the above mentioned cold meds kick in, life becomes tolerable and I can function. Relatives were visiting, and fun was in the air. Thursday evening, Uncle Dan, Aunt Carolla and Cousin Pinto visited from sunny Barney, North Dakota, way back in the homeland. Friday had us visiting the Windy City of Chicago, which was, well, windy and frigid to the point where walking around, my favorite activity just about anywhere, became unpleasant to the point of impossiblity and forbade us from getting a decent view of the city's world-class skyline. However, not all was lost - despite assurances from the staffers at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) that all tours on Friday were booked from calls and emails placed during the week leading up to it, simply saying to the people at the desk that we had driven ten hours (or at least Dan et al had) was enough to get us in the door, which Dan, being a farmer, found immensely interesting and Pinto, being someone who's always been intrigued by financial markets and the like, dug as well. Other activities included a visit to the federal board of reserves bank and a temporarily successful attempt at topping the John Hancock Tower that ultimately failed due to other factors. Saturday had us touring around the M-A-D, visiting such sites as the capitol, the union, and State street Brats. Good times had by all.
Am praying to every deity I can think of to kick this cold as quickly as possible - big activities in the weeks and months ahead - classes to attend and keep up with, a thesis to write, and a trans-pacific move to prepare for - and illness will not expedite any of it. So, as the Romans would've said, Excelsior! Higher!