"Hey, you have something on your.....oh, right, Ash Wednesday."

Today is Ash Wednesday for us Christians and is the start of the Lenten season which last until Easter (through Holy Saturday). While I could easily go off on the religious significance and all sorts of religious facts, I'm only going to touch on one aspect before moving on.

Many people equate Lent with some form of fasting, giving something up (like chocolate, alcohol or coffee). While fasting is one part of Lent, it's actually just one pillar of a trilogy. The other two Lenten pillars are charity and prayer. So if your are Christian and taking part in Lent this year, when you fast, donate the money that you would have spent on whatever it is that you're giving up to a charity of your choice. For the prayer pillar, my church provides a free little booklet with a different story for each day of Lent and I read it before bed. Going to church an extra time during the week is also a goal of mine every year.

Chicago is warming up and the snow is melting away. Prior to the 8-10 inch snow storm that we had, there really wasn't much snow, if any at all, accumulated. In regular (non-global warming) winters, we receive layers of snow and interesting things accumulating during the cold months. When it all melts, it's a bonanza of gloves, shoes, hats, all sorts of things. This year is proving much less interesting however. The only interesting thing I've seen is several properties and bills from a Monopoly game. Have you ever found anything really odd or interesting after the thaw? How about just laying in the street while not associated with a thaw? My best "find" was a $100 bill that I found in Anchorage. A few years ago, across the street, I found the wallet of someone from Minnesota and was able to actually track them down even though their license wasn't in the wallet (thanks AAA).