Bernanke-Panky

The Fed meeting is today again, with market watchers eyeing whether rates will be cut by a quarter or a half point (0.25 or 0.5%). November job growth slowed (pointing to a larger reduction in rates), as shown by Friday's report, yet still exceeded forecasts (pointing to a smaller reduction in rates).

Since the Fed gets to decide on both the Fed Funds rate - the rate at which banks borrow funds from each other - as well as the discount rate - the rate at which banks borrow funding from the Fed - it's possible we witness a quarter point reduction in one and a half point reduction in the other.

Stay tuned...

On The Craziest Day Of Christmas...

A quick recap of what is quickly becoming the largest bar crawl known to Wrigleyville: Nearly 4,200 people showed up for 12th Annual Twelve Bars of Christmas (TBOX) bar crawl which dominated all of Wrigleyville throughout the day (and night!) on Saturday. People dressed as gorillas dressed as Santas, Miller Light cardboard boxes specially crafted into Christmas-like sombreros, and more elves than the North Pole itself dominated Addison, Clark, and Sheffield throughout the day. And yes, it did start at 10 am. Luckily though, everyone came prepared - to stave off the early morning hunger, boxes of cereal were abundant. Hang onto those boxes throughout the night and you're guaranteed to be able to last all night long (especially with the really sugary kind...my favorite being Lucky Charms). Note the Capt'n Crunch sprinkled atop Zack's beer in the picture... no this beer-in-cereal concoction is not typical of TBOX; however, an interesting twist on the cereal concept that is famous to the bar crawl.

And yes, we got in early for this grand event. Of the almost 4200 people, my number was a very low 52. I took part in the festivities last year and knew it was going to become an annual event for me. So, add TBOX to the list of MUST DO things in Chicago during December. That is, if you can handle beer and cereal at 10am.

I only wonder how many Santa hats and snowflake decorations were strewn down the road early Sunday morning...

Snow in the Windy City!

The ONLY thing I dislike about living in the Midwest happened to me this morning: scraping ice from my car windows while my fingers freeze. Honestly, it's the only thing I can't handle. But what can you do?... without the winter snows, we wouldn't have the gorgeous change of seasons which many other parts of the country lack.

So, I just try to enjoy it and forget about having to strap on my boots every time I leave my place. If that means blasting Mariah Carey's "Christmas" CD all day long, then so be it.

So, you wanna get into the holiday spirit but Mariah won't do it for you? You can't miss the following Chicago favorites:

1) The Walnut Room at Marsh..er... Macy's. Re-invented with a new wine bar in the dining room, families of all ages have traditionally come here during the holiday season to admire the massive Christmas tree and dine on anything from steak or chicken pot pie to walnut cookies. But beware... they don't accept reservations so get there early or expect to wait in the mother of all lines.

2)The Joffrey Ballet's Nutcracker. I saw it last year with a group of ex-ballet dancers and I can't stress enough how much a dance enthusiast will enjoy this. You may have seen it before, but it's always good a second, third, or even fourth time around. Heck, make it an annual tradition. 50 E Congress at the Auditorium Theatre.

3)Ice skating at Millennium Park. The plaza is replaced with a 16,000 square foot ice rink. Come by and show off your triple axel.

4)Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier. More skating, trees, and lights. Basically a winter wonderland of fun!

5)Skiing down the wondrous West Loop Mountains! OK, just kidding. We all know Chicago probably couldn't get any flatter. However I have heard there are a few places you might be able to sled: (a)On Wilson, near Montrose Harbor, at Cricket Hill (b) The hill near Soldier Field, right near the lake path (c)A hill in the Beverly neighborhood. Sorry that's all I've got. You have more suggestions? Send them my way!

More to come...