Left Chicago around 12:30 EST, and managed to drag ourselves home at 22:00. The border was uneventful, and the driving was good, except for the portions where we drove into heavy rain.
I had a good time. Unfortunately, I left my jacket at Wendy's in Ann Arbor, and with it my JamCam. I took about forty pictures in Chicago, but these will have to wait. As will my story about what we did on my birthday. Erin and I are dead tired, and I'll tell you more tomorrow evening.
Thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes!
Before I go to bed, let me forward this link, which my father helpfully e-mailed me. It's very interesting reading.
What this illustrates, in my opinion, is not an anti-Canadian attitude; more the dangers of elevating hectoring to a desired debating tool and generally thinking that your opinions are the only opinions that matter. More than just being intellectually lazy, I feel that a number of people have lost respect for other people, not just the National Post. Any challenge to one's thoughts in these "sources" is not met with a reasoned debate of the challenge; instead the challenger is attacked with misplaced passion. It's a shame, because it really drains the level of debate, renders compromise or even agreement impossible, and generally makes peoples' lives uncomfortable. Who likes to be shouted at? If so, then why do so many people shout?
This is why I generally prefer such news sources as the Globe and Mail and the CBC. I'm not saying that they're models of objectivity, but they at least do try to print both sides of a debate. You get a sense that to disagree is not a crime, simply the opener of an interesting and (hopefully) cordial conversation.