IA my foot

 We went into the suburbs tonight

    We attended visitation for my friend Frank.  I have known him and his brother John since at least 5th grade, if not earlier.

    There were several picture boards and in almost every picture he was smiling, wether it be holding a grand child, or  child, or in front of his 65 Chevy, or with his wife.   Always a smile.

    Visitations in the city are different than in Rochelle.

    In Rochelle, there is a line of family members and everyone goes down the line and greets people and offers sympathies or stories.

    In Chicago, there is no line.  You look for the person you want to visit with and go to them.  It makes more sense to do it that way.

    Back to the picture boards.

    One was of Frank's childhood.  John called me over and pointed to a picture of Frank and some guy.  They must have been 12 or 13.  John asked, "Do you know who this is?"  I said he looked vaguely familiar, but I was not sure.

    It was me.  Seriously!  I did not recognize myself.  I recognized Frank, but not me.

    So I called Jackie over and shower her the picture.  She knew right away it was me.  So did Steve, another friend of the group.

    I have to admitI was a nice looking young kid, but that was before acne and weight gain.  

    But on to AI.

    At home, I plugged in the name of the funeral home and did a route search.  The most direct way was 88 to 171m north on 171 to Belmont, east on Belmont.

    However, in the car I asked for directions and got quite a different response.

    I said, "Siri, directions to Montclair Funeral Home, Chicago."

    Her response was something like, "I found the location in Paris, France, distance 4,186 miles.  Proceed?"

    Jackie and I just looked at each other.

    Now, I would not mind going to Paris, but I would be interested in seeing driving directions once we hit the coast.

    I tried again and got 2 more answers that made no sense.

    So I gave the address, and that worked. 

    Except, she had us going north on 39.  My guess is we would go north to 94, then the that ti 294 and go south.

    But on the map at home, that route was 20 minutes longer.

    So I ignored the directions she gave and got on 88 headed east.

A    ll was fine until we got to the Mannheim junction.  It took us 20 minutes to get through that.  And let me tell you, people are crazy!  I saw dozens of cars drive on the shoulder and then cut in front of the semi ahead of us.  

    We finally hit 171 and I went north.  Siri said to turn, we did.  She said turn again, we did.  We ended up creeping along Harlem Avenue.  Siri said turn right, so we did.  Then she said at ===== road turn left.

    Well, I got to a corner and turned left.  Onto a one way street.  Going the wrong way.

    If a police officer saw me and asked if I didn't see the arrows, I might have said, "Hell, I didn't even see the Native Americans."

    I made a 3 point turn, got back the on route, and eventually got to the funeral home.  But it took at least half an hour.

    On the way home I went down Belmont to 171 and then to the tollway.  It took about 15 minutes.  So much for AI

    We were hungry and stopped at a White Castle.

    I have a feeling that will stick with me for a few hours.

Peace and Love