Homesick, but for where?

Spent all of Easter Sunday in the apartment working - I literally did not step foot outside the building. By Wednesday I had over 40 hours in and was feeling really homesick - ready to get the hell out for a few days.

3:30 Friday rolled around and I walked out of the Aon Center to head north and I realized that as I walked past the folks already hanging outside at Quartino's on State Street in the beautiful afternoon sunshine and as I passed folks doing the same at Rosebud's on Rush in the cab on the way to Midway - hell, I didn't want to leave at all! I wanted my sweetie with me but I would have been perfectly happy to plop down at one of the outdoor tables at any of those places and not leave until they kicked us out.

Finally made it up to Division Tuesday to meet a couple of guys from work (for those that are not Chicago-savvy, Division and Rush is one of the bar/restaurant/club scenes). I doubt I'd be interested in hitting it on a Friday or Saturday, but Tuesday felt about right - lots of people around but not so crowded that it was uncomfortable.

Noticed something on the way to the airport - all the cabs have Illinois license plates of "nnnn TX", which would imply that there are a maximum of 10,000 cabs in Illinois. I would swear to you that there are at least 9,950 at any given time along about a 10-block stretch of Michigan Ave, so for you folks in Champaign and Peoria, good luck hailing a taxi!