NP: Bruford Levin Upper Extremities, Bruford Levin Upper Extremities

So, either Jamie's a psychic or Beth is a jinx. I was out with friends on Saturday night when the subject of the Fighting Illini came up. Beth, who lives in Springfield, asked if we thought their undefeated (as of Saturday) record was as huge a deal in Chicago as it is downstate. Jamie, however, said he had heard they lost. After cursing my cellphone for not being able to connect to the Internet, another, apparently better phone informed us that was the women's team.

But the seeds had been sown. It sorta figures that nearly everybody I was with went to college in Ohio, although not at Ohio State, specifically.

I had a couple of fairly massive disconnects with the venue in which the conversation took place, and not just because it was rapidly filling up with very young (relatively speaking), very overdressed Lincoln Park Trixies and those that would woo them with hair products, unbuttoned shirts and brash attitudes.

Primarily, there were a bunch of Corona Light ads touting St. Patrick's Day. Because, as you well know, the Mexicans love that holiday, much like the Irish are all about drinking Guinness on Cinco de Mayo. The bar also had promotional flyers hyping "Chicago's best post-St. Patrick's Day bash." On March 12th. I think that would make it Chicago's last post-St. Patrick's Day bash, wouldn't it?