Opening day. All you have to do is say the words and you feel the shutters thrown wide, the room air out, the light pour in. In baseball, no other day is so pure with possibility. No scores yet, no losses, no blame or disappointment. No hangover, at least until the game's over.

Don't waste time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

For some Chicago expats, food is the medicine that blunts the pain of separation.

The movies we love and admire are to some extent a function of who we are when we see them.

Thanksgiving without tension is like a Thanksgiving without turkey. It can be done, but it is not the norm.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.