Yesterday was the first truly...

...autumn-like day in Chicago. It was sunny, dry, the sky was bright blue, and there was a bit of a nip to the air. I even had to change into jeans mid-way through the day--the first time I'd put on a pair of long pants in almost two months.

My wife and I saw the movie "Julie & Julia," which is about two of my favorite things, blogging and food. It was a good flick and I even enjoyed Meryl Streep's performance, although I still can't decide if she was acting or just doing a Julia Child impression.

Ted Kennedy was finally buried on Saturday and all of his mourners have presumably gone home. As I watched TV off and on last week and listened to all of the tributes, I had to ask myself if his death was really that big of a deal outside of Washington and Massachusetts. After all, he was a senator and his funeral seemed like that of a former president. I don't remember Nixon or Ford getting that big of a send-off. He was obviously well-liked by everyone who knew him, on both sides of the aisle, but I wonder if he was as important to the residents of Arizona or Nevada, say, as he was to his colleagues, like John McCain and Orrin Hatch. He had evolved into such a Washington insider that it was as if someone from your workplace died--important to you and your co-workers but all but invisible to everyone else. The Kennedys just seem to me to be so yesterday, like the Roosevelts or the Rockefellers. I can't believe they're that relevant to anyone under the age of 40. It's been at least that many years since Jack and Bobby died, and almost 30 since Ted challenged Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination for president. Since then we've had Reagan, two Bushes, the Clintons, and now Obama. The Kennedys and their dynasty must seem like ancient history to so much of America.

Plans are firming up in my mind for the first annual Boring Old White Guy Dinner, which in this case may be just a lunch. Since I began this blog last October, I'm thinking of meeting outside Jim's Original and the Express Grill (they're right next to each other) on Maxwell Street on October 3. It's the first Saturday of the month and, weather permitting (there's no inside seating), I thought I'd be down there between 11am and 1pm and buy lunch for any followers of this blog who can make it that day. If the forecast calls for rain we'll just have to go to alternate Plan B (which doesn't exist just yet).

Oh, and St. Rita beat Portage (Ind.), 35-20.