"Helium!! Get your helium right here!!"

Well Saturday turned out to be a really fun day. After I secured the Dane Cook tickets, I hit the gym (ran 2 1/4 miles and lifted some weights), cleaned up around the house and headed over to MWrigley's. She opted for a pedicure in the morning and then came home to make dinner after doing some work. She made this dish: chicken with sun dried tomatoes, spinach, garlic and some other stuff wrapped up inside a pastry dough. It was outstanding. We had a pedestrian chardonnay (Smoking Loon) that wasn't great, but certainly not offensive. I'm not much of a white wine drinker, so that's about as good of a review as a white wine will get from me.

So then it was off to the United Center for the performance. We passed up the $14 parking lot for the $15 lot and ended up really close. Nice move Joe. There was this huge line outside the stadium though that wrapped around one side. Now, I've been to the UC for all sorts of events: Springsteen, Blackhawks and Bulls and I've never seen anything like this. Turns out they only had one gate open, at least according to rumor and the ever-helpless parking facilities and security folk. So, like lemmings, we waited in the line which was moving relatively quickly. After we got inside, we had to walk to the other side of the stadium where our seats were, which was fine because it was good people watching and we had to find the good beer anyway. When we finally did get to the other side, the gates were open and people were coming in at will, so who knows WHY the line formed.

The show was very funny though and the people watching was OUTSTANDING. Dane Cook's following is mostly 20-something's and they were hysterical to see. The women were dressed like absolute tramps, which I loved to see of course. The guys had the complete hobo look going. Too funny.

Stolen from the headlines: Helium reserves dwindling. Really?? Helium?? Helium, my good readers, is the second most abundant element in the universe next to hydrogen and constitutes 23% of the elemental mass of the universe. And we're running out of it. "How can that be?" you say. Well, it's actually quite amazing that we haven't already run out of it to be honest with you. While it's abundant in the universe, it's not so abundant on Earth. The U.S. government decided to stockpile it in the 30's and 40's when the thought of possibly using it for an army dirigibles was prevalent. Those uses didn't come to fruition though and the government slowly sold it's stockpiles over the next 6 decades. In the last 10 years though, the demand abroad for helium has almost tripled!! The price has doubled! Apparently there are tons of foreigners walking around talking like the lollipop kids from The Wizard of Oz.

Not true as I found out. Helium is used in all sorts of electronic products both in the end product and during fabrication. As these facilities have moved abroad, so has the demand for helium. While helium is a byproduct in many natural gas reservoirs, it's difficult to capture and not as lucrative as the gas or oil it associates with. At least it isn't yet. Currently the U.S. has the preponderance of the planet's known helium reserves and we're on pace to run out in about a decade. Without new exploration specifically for helium, those mylar balloons we've all grown to know and love are going to cost more than the roses with which they are normally accompanied!