Diary of a Newspaper Hawk

"Shiver me timbers" is something I would never say. It's cold. The salary girls were caught off guard today. The playful flirt of summer dresses worn to work is no longer interesting to them. They are cold, unready for a return of late winter. The breeze they catch isn't the fancy of men, but the freezing of legs. Beauty products on Amazon The screech of the L has never stopped bothering me. I'm a city guy, but noise is noise. It is noise when every conversation I have is punctuated by metal scraping metal, interupting things that matter. The News Fire. 45 story building. This is big. Smoke Pours From Chicago High-Rise Roof

Get the latest Hillary Clinton news & media analysis Anna Nicole Smith DVDs and more at Amazon.com Things are chillier than they were this morning. I told God I wanted warmer weather. He said I'll get it, but not just yet. I asked when. He said he's on it, don't worry so much. It will get warmer, and when it does, Jim and I have a BBQ planned. Maybe next weekend. Ribs. I take these seriously. I'm even thinking of entering a contest. I'm no pro, but careful preparation can make the difference between average and smokehouse quality. I'm a meat eater. I'm not a PETA boy. I also don't agree with those who are vegan, at least not as far as those who say humans were born to be a vegetable eater. I won't argue about health. I eat too much red meat. Now, I'm eating more chicken. And, yes, more vegetables. Nothing wrong with good veggies. Speaking of veggies. Two fun movies dealing with problematic vegetables: Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the ...

The warm weather has made today a good one. Cold days are cold. No bull about it. The salary girl's skirts blow in the wind, causing, young and old man to walk backwards. I've stepped backwards a time or two myself. Walking through Millennium Park this morning made me look forward to hot dogs lathered with mustard and relish. There's a stand I go to near the Cloud Gate ( the Bean ), just southwest of it. A Polish guy and girl worked it last summer. Dogs are pricey, but on a hungry day, it is still cheaper than any restaurant. The News Anna Nicole Smith autopsy released - Drug OD Today's news will be in tomorrow's papers, but this is the kind of thing that will be on every radio, TV and internet source. The Anna Nicole Smith drug overdose will still be an issue, with the question being foul play or not. Subscribe to Backpacker Magazine ($19.97) Buy the book: Millennium Park: Creating a Chicago Landmark (Historical Studies of Urban America) -- ** --

These days are sketchy, but the sales are coming along. With Conrad Black's escapades, Sammy Sosa joining the Rangers ( Sosa, Cubs reunite ), and the video (YouTube: Cop Beating Women Bartender caught on video ) of a cop wailing on a helpless woman at a bar (he's twice her size), the news has been keeping people interested in buying papers. Unfortunately, not a letter of that news is good. The News Camera catches Chicago cop beating bartender Bloomington Pantagraph Kill a cop, and you get extra punishment. I say, if you are a cop and break the law flagrantly, bust him hard. The video looks bad. There is little room to believe anything but the worst. It sounds like some mouth breathing bum of a cop tried to threaten the woman to keep her mouth shut. Neither man, if guilty, deserves to guard an empty warehouse. A man who do such things is no man at all.

When Spring comes, send me a card. Once again, the fickle fancy of God teases me. 70 degrees, then 30. Chicago. Jim's been telling me about the drudgery of his Metra job. He's keeping things low key, but this is partly to do with his new girlfriend, Lisa, who won't tolerate his usual routine. That means he remains sober of body and mind, and stops hitting on attractive commuters. All the same, he's bored. He's a Sox fan, so we go at it. My world is about the Cubs. Can't take away their World Series and our lack of one. Makes it hard to win a baseball argument when my team loses. The jazz about having a better stadium is pointless, especially as I can't afford to see a game live anyway. I catch them on TV. WGN. Jim's a die-hard fan. He'll never attack a base coach like those morons did a few years back, but he will give them them a few pointers. I gotta say, I miss Harry Caray. I miss Steve Stone too, but Harry, in his prime, could really call a game...

The Chicago River was green yesterday. Not with envy or muck. Not even with city tax dollars. Volunteers made it green. They paid for it. The poured in the color. The green river is often green. Just not this green. While the real St. Patrick was actually a British evangelist more like Billy Graham than a snake scaring shamrock talker, known for his piety and commitment to God, the Chicago brand is closer to being an icon of Mardis Gras or Carnival. Drunkenness and other things that might have embarrassed Patrick now define his day. I don't how the Catholic Church deals with this, but they have the right to be ticked off at how one of their boys was made into a lush. As for green rivers, I drank a few as a child. A lime soda, like a melted Mr. Freeze pop. I used to get them with my gram at Woolworth's . There was one in the Loop where we would sit and talk of the important things of life. Good days. The News Conrad Black: He's no lord. That job has been taken by someone mu...

The cooler weather today caused me to break out my Sun-Times jacket. In all my years, this switching of the weather still gets to me. My bones ache on cooler mornings. Summer weather will be here, and I'll sling papers from a warmer place. The News I have nothing good to say about Conrad Black. Nothing. Chicago court meets a low-key Lord Globe and Mail - 15 hours ago CHICAGO - It was one of those defining moments. Anyone who believed Conrad Black's trial was going to be predictable had that opinion corrected the moment the extravaganza opened in downtown Chicago Wednesday, thanks to Lord Black himself, ... Will Cap come back? (Sun-Times) Captain America is dead, but he may not stay that way. Although he possesses no preternatural powers -- not even the ability to leap very short buildings in a single bound -- the muscled crime fighter has long been categorized as a superhero. And now, after more than six decades of doling out bad-guy beatings in his form-fitting flag suit, he...

Playing chess as a social activity seems to be a dying pastime. Were there ever days like those? Not in Chicago. Not in my life. Not in the range of my walk and work. But I play. Whatever happened to the old men playing in the park, grinning at good moves, grimacing when they they’ve been gaffed? If you see me, sitting on a milk crate with a chess board set on a stack of papers, buy a paper - buy a game. If you lose, I'll show you why. If you win, the paper's on me. P-K4 The News Conrad Black's problem's begin officially. To this I say bring it on . Corruption is at its worst when the low are impacted by the evil of those above. Black loses bid to delay hearing Chicago Tribune, IL - 8 hours ago "Conrad Black, whose fraud trial is scheduled to start Wednesday in federal court in Chicago, lost a bid to delay a hearing on US prosecutors..."

I had a coffee dilemma. Ran out at home. I had forgotten how different the cost of four cups made at home is versus one large bought at Intelligentsia . I'll buy a pick me through the day, but two days in a row I had to buy some on my way to the corner. Luckily, it was warm. I bought it for flavor and taste, not heat. I've heard the sad news of Mary Smith and the fires. I don't know her, or if she's guilty, but I see enough homeless people in the streets that cause me concern for their well-being. I'm thankful for the homeless shelters. I've never stayed in one, but I have been close to needing one if not for friends who took me in during dire times. The homeless situation is complicated, with different reasons for each person, but I can tell you that those without homes are as gentle as those with homes. See what you can do to help those who are helping the homeless. Homeless Shelters Outside of Chicago, Illinois - HUD Charity Navigator Rating - McHenry County ...

I walked in the fresh air of spring. The time changed, but, like every year, the sun still rose and set. I have an iPod now that I'm learning about. Wore it while walking. It was strange to see the birds without hearing them sing. The News Conrad Black is on trial. No love lost there. He is guy accused of looting the Chicago Sun-Times for $84 million. I think that's it. It is all more complicated than that, but the gist is someone stole money that should have fed those below him. All the lord's men Chicago Sun-Times When a guy spends his days toughing out the worst of weather, having money thrown at him like a beggar, having papers stolen from him -- that guy has little pity on the thieves at the top. Little pity. My world is about pennies. My customers rarely buy a buck's worth of anything. My commission is weak. I deal in volume, and not always much of that. Black deals in millions. If he stole money, then what should happen to him is not legal in the United States....

This weekend, I have big plans. Big, big plans. I will walk in the park. Warm weather. I'll wear a jacket, but I will walk. Man, it will be good. It occurred to me the other day that I have a 9-5 job in the Loop. It is true. Look at it: I get up early, get dressed, head to work, catch an L, same as every other person looking down from the Hancock. I'm looking up from the bottom of the building, but such as it is. A 9-5 job. I never work 9-5. No one does. No one down here. I get here a few hours before that, leave a little after that. When there are people buying newspapers, I'm here to help them do so. I'm the water that first hits the sand and last leaves the beach, but I'm always there, attached to the wave. I don't think of myself as a 9-5er. The only difference between me and the Joe up in the corner office is not the corner, but the office. The News Bulls win. That's old news. Protesters used patsy Emanuel's office to market their anti-war goals. Em...

Yesterday's story about Captain America's death took me by surprise. A lot of people who don't even live in Chicago stopped to see my post. Captain America Must Not Die - The World Needs a Hero . Thanks for your e-mails. (newspaperhawk * yahoo.com) and thoughts. Feel free to use the comment form. One question someone asked is whether Captain America is a Republican or a Democrat? He's a symbol. He's got the goodness of both, the honor of each. He's all of that. He is every voter, and for the ones who can't vote, he stands for their rights too. My business is newspapers. I sell them. You buy them. The news of the Capt. did not reach most of today's newspapers, but it was online all over. I sit at a corner all day, more or less, and hear a bit here and there of everyone's thoughts. Ordinary people, the ones you don't expect to read comic books, were talking about it. Suits and skirts, salary girls and salad clerks. All of them. Accountants, proj...

I ran into my old school friend, John. He is starting a church on the south side. I said to him, John, do we need another church in Chicago? No we don't. It isn't really a church in the way I was thinking. It is about people living the way God wants, not the way people want. What do people want? People like church, sort of, doing this and that, and forget the rest of the world. No, they don't? Yes, John said. and the rest of the world has forgotten God. The world people and the God people need to get together. John said more than that, and he is not doing it exactly the way it sounds. He didn't buy a newspaper. The News Days have been rough on our heroes. Our boys in Iraq are fighting for truth, justice and the way of freedom, while spat on by those who sent them. Always fighting for right has been Captain America. ( Pentagon deploys more troops to Baghdad - Bomber kills 30; 3 soldiers die in Iraq ) Capt. America dead? It is no wonder when Americans themselves think l...

I'm an innocent bystander. Always am. I'm a bystander, and I'm innocent. I sit on my box, saying "Buy a paper," or, maybe, "Read what the Bears did." Things like that. People hand me a buck or a five-spot, grab a paper, and I hand them change. It is busiest in the morning, between 7:30-8:30. I make 50% of all I'm going to make right then. Too quick to be cold, but it is still cold. When it is warm, it is never so hot that early. The cold and the rain. Nothing else bothers me, but there's nothing else to bother me. I read the paper throughout the day. People stop by. My corner is like a neighborhood bar, only most everyone's still sober and stays that way when they leave. Cops stop by. Bike delivery guys too. Homeless people, looking to relate to someone. Streetwise sellers. Elderly neighbors, hoping to find someone familiar. I know them. My hands are blistered with temporary stains of newsprint. Paper cut scars mirror the lines in my hands. T...

Weekends are meant to rest, and I rested. Besides church, I stayed inside much of the time. The week before sank a lot of energy from me. Today, it was quiet, even though Mondays are usually a-bustle. The crowds came, bought a few papers, and moved on. Like troops marching, they shoved past the weekend, past my corner, tossing quarters, grabbing Tribs and Sun-Times, and disappeared. Surreal, like zombies, waiting for Rod Serling. Rod never came around and told me it was not real. The News As news goes, it was slow. The Bulls won in overtime last night, but no one really cares. Buy all 156 complete episodes of the Twilight Zone on DVD: Twilight Zone: The Complete Definitive Collection

First, the rain, then the wind. Next, I think are frogs and locusts. While Chicago's weather is as fickle as a private school prom queen, it really isn't so bad. A good scarf and a little grit solves the problem. Standing out of the wind helps. The wind will blow, but if I'm not in it, or I'm protected, what's my grouse? Where it is toughest is for my Streetwise pals. They make a lot of nothing selling those, and the benevolent skip them more on hard days than me. Benevolence is that way. I know I am. Too bad, too, that Streetwise is not a product most people are buying the same way they are buying my papers. I sell a Tribune or Sun-Times because there's something they want to read. Maybe they know what the news is, like when the Sox won the Series, or when Daley this week crushed his way into his sixth. They want to read the story. Or, they missed the news and need to know what the Dow-Jones did. The News Lovie Smith signed a contract to keep him for four year...

Mayor Richard Daley had a series of commercials. It might be the most we have heard from him. Here's his last one. The rain killed my business today. There's rain, and there's rain, and this was a wet one. My plastic covers were drenched. My customers skipped. I don't blame them. The News Rain, rain go away. Come again another day. Big news, rain. Flooding everywhere. My yard, my neighbor's yard. What this means is real weather problems. When things dry, the streets will be worse off, meaning repairs will be needed.