Via Evanston Now:

The pension fund TIAA-CREF has closed on its purchase of the 10-year-old Park Evanston rental apartment tower at 1630 Chicago Ave. from the John Buck Company.

I mean, other than the process of moving, which isn't at all fun, is that I'm giving up access to a yard. The guy painting my new apartment pointed out to me that there are 46 steps from the alley to the third floor, and said this made getting the tarps and things into the place that much less fun. I pointed out to him that I will have to traverse all 46 steps, in every weather, in every state of health, every day, three times a day, because I can't train my dog to use a toilet. As far as Parker will notice, I'll walk him a lot more than I do now, which for him is good.

I will miss the yard, even if Parker won't care.

For the time being, I'm working on the top floor of the tallest building in Evanston, Ill. The view isn't too bad:

This morning I dropped Parker off at his new day camp, Urban Outsitters. Everyone was wagging when I left, though Parker seemed a little overwhelmed by the onrush of dogs. I was a little apprehensive, but I think he'll be fine. Do parents feel this way after dropping their kids off at a new school?

Yes, today I had my sixth consecutive flight cancellation. The sky is clear, visibility is 80 km, but the -19°C temperatures and 60 km/h wind gusts are just too much for the ancient Piper Warrior I rent.

Stay tuned.

The City of Evanston, my birthplace, bastion of good government, where I have lived for just over three years, has run out of road salt:

[Evanston Public Works chief] David Jennings says that on Wednesday "our salt supplier notified us that they could not honor the balance of our current order, about 1,100 tons, due to difficulties in getting their supply of salt to the distribution point that serves us."

Jennings says city crews have stopped salting residential streets, but are continuing to plow. "This means that most of these streets will develop 'snowpack' which is smooth in some areas, but tends to rut and develop a washboard surface as traffic packs it down."

I can attest to the 'washboard' surface as driving Parker to day camp the last two days was like driving over two miles of railroad tracks. Oh well, snow does melt eventually, and we should have above-freezing temperatures in a month or two.

I think Talking Points Memo is sounding just about the right note of alarm:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey...so far [has] dropped two big bombshells. DOJ will not be investigating:

(1) whether the waterboarding, now admitted to by the White House, was a crime; or

(2) whether the Administration's warrantless wiretapping was illegal.

His rationale? Both programs had been signed off on in advance as legal by the Justice Department.

We have now the Attorney General of the United States telling Congress that it's not against the law for the President to violate the law if his own Department of Justice says it's not. ... It is a naked assertion of executive power. The founders would have called it tyrannical.

Can we make it 347 more days without Congress selling the farm?