Parking Dibs, Super Bowl, and Life Decisions

Hello, my adoring readers! Well, as the snow has finally relented and people have stopped foaming at the mouth with stories of snow, I want to discuss my evolving views on the issue of parking spot "dibs." For those of you who are not from Chicago, after a big snowstorm in the city, many people will dig themselves out of their parking spot and then put random assortments of junk - usually lawn chairs, garbage cans, or bins of various kinds - in the spot to call dibs for when they return. The thought is that since they took the time to dig out this spot, it is rightfully theirs until the snow is cleared. Here's a picture of dibs in action.

Now, at first this seemed fair to me; if you are going to take the time to dig a spot out, you should have it for a while. Also, since I have the luxury of having a parking lot to park in, I didn't feel that it was right for me to have a strong opinion one way or the other. However, this changed when I began trying to visit people in other areas of the city. Nothing is more frustrating than circling endlessly around city blocks looking at crappy lawn furniture and bins sitting in spaces that could be taken by the cars they were meant for. My new position is this: Shoveling out your spot entitles you to one thing: getting out of said spot (I know, two colons in one sentence is weird). If you want to always have a spot you can: 1) pay for a spot in a parking lot or 2) fill out the necessary permits and build a garage. Then, you can fill that personal spot with all the assorted lawn furniture you want. Heck, you can sleep in it for all I care.

So, today I was daydreaming of spending my afternoon walking the cities of north Chicago throwing people's assorted spot-saving paraphernalia into the sidewalks and opening up the hundreds of saved parking spots to the masses. I chose not to do this because:

1. I didn't want to get beaten senselessly by a mob of angry Chicagoans.

2. I think it might have thrown the city of Chicago into a dystopian nightmare of looting and general rioting as people took revenge on the cars that had the audacity to move their dibs garbage. In my mind it involved zombies; I don't know where they came from in this scenario, but they're there now, so you'll have to deal with them.

3. Most importantly, it was Sunday afternoon, and Sunday afternoon is nap time.

Your welcome for sparing Chicago of all this unnecessary zombie violence. My laziness (I'm a slothful 9 on the enneagram after all) has probably spared many a post-apocalpytic nightmare.

The Super Bowl just ended. I am happy that Aaron Rogers won, happy that Ben Roethlisberger did not win, sad the rest of the Packers won, and sad the rest of the Steelers lost. My favorite commercial had to be the Bridgestone Tire commercial where the driver avoids a beaver who returns the favor by blocking his entrance onto a collapsed bridge over a raging river. The fist pump to the chest is what got me.

Well, Midwinter was great, but I can't say I'm ready for school to begin again. I feel like I should be done after those strenuous first two weeks. In good news, I have two chapters of my thesis completed, a third in rough draft form, and another paper almost finished. I'm feeling like things are coming together.

Okay, hypothetically if I was having to choose between being a pastor and a professor, which would you pick for me?

Done.