Email is a helluva drug. That must be why I’m sitting here in a hotel room in Chicago where it’s minus something-a-lot outside and the roads are full of ice, salt and dingy snow.

It seemed like such a great idea at the time. Virgin America sent me an email advertising a 20% off sale for 20 hours. Al has been bugging us to come visit him in Chicago for months and I could get a storming deal on tickets. I poked around various websites and found a decent deal on a mini-suite at a hotel in downtown, just a block off Michigan Avenue.

It will be fun! The lights! Christmas Shopping! Maybe see some snow!

Well, we got the lights. We got to watch Christmas shoppers hurry along the avenue. We got to see the ice on the lake and throw snowballs. We even got to walk outside in a gentle snowfall on Saturday.

I realized, though, that I no longer have outerwear appropriate for midwest winters. I remember my years in Madison fondly, but I seem to have forgotten that I lived in 2 – 4 layers between September and March. I have forgotten that gloves and a scarf are not a fashion accessory, but are a necessity.

It was email marketing that reminded me of all that. And I have my fill of cold and snow and ice for a while.

Had a great time in the city, and Al was a wonderful host. But I’m ready to go back to my warm California, where as a friend of mine commented, “we keep the snow in the mountains where you can visit it.”