January 20, 2003 - 7:00 p.m.

i woke up this morning to find ghastly pictures in the paper and smoke in the air.

i don't mean smog. it's been difficult to breathe, much less see, and the hot weather hasn't helped. ugh. and to think we're at least four hours away from anything serious.

when i lived in columbia, missouri, people used to complain about the lack of clean-up during the snow period. big cities like chicago are used to cold weather, so the snow is more readily and systematically removed, or so i'm told. columbians used to shake their heads in disbelief at the shoddiness with which their tiny town tried to keep things under control.

i remember hearing about tornadoes that hit columbia, too. i wonder how the citizens would appreciate something like a bush fire, though. keep your fingers crossed that my city isn't next.