Aaron Ewer
Aaron Ewers thoughts about everything

A story in today’s Chicago Tribune reports that Sonic will be entering the Chicagoland market this year with 4 new drive-in restaurants. That’s great news! What took them so long?

Sonic is headquartered in Oklahoma and is the country’s largest operator of drive-in restaurants, with over 3,000 drive-ins nationwide. SONIC enjoys the highest customer frequency rate in the quick-service restaurant industry.

In 1953, SONIC was founded by Troy Smith and was originally named Top Hat Drive-In, and the name was changed to SONIC in 1959. The prototype of the first SONIC Drive-In opened in Shawnee, Oklahoma and the unique use of curbside speakers to allow customers to place food orders without leaving their cars, was the basis for their slogan of “SONIC, Service with the Speed of Sound.”

They have a special offer of milkshakes for 99 cents - that makes it awfully hard to drive past one without stopping for a different milkshake flavor every day at a bargain price!

While surfing various sites today I’ve come across an unusual word three times, all in totally different topics and arenas. I don’t know if I just noticed this one particular word today and with increased awareness I am noticing it more, or is today just a day when this word comes across my screen several times? It’s very weird. If this was numbers instead of a word, I’d taken them to the convenience store and buy a lottery ticket.

The word is “robust,” which is a powerfully descriptive word and I really like it. I should use it more. I first noticed it used in a comment ties to an article in the New York Times on how flip flops are allegedly harmful to feet. I suspect that study was underwritten by the manufactures of athletic shoes and disagree totally with their conclusions. Nonetheless, a fellow commenter used the word robust and I thought it was well used there.

Then a press release from Mozilla and article on Yahoo News calls the new version of Firefox to be released tomorrow, “robust.” Well, I am a Firefox fan and am very much looking forward to the new “robust” version of Firefox.

And last, there is an article on the BBC website abut the advances in medical lasers that will help the biomedical field. The new lasers reportedly have a robustness:

Dr Graeme Malcolm, of M-Squared Lasers Ltd, added: “A step change improvement in the cost, size and robustness of ultrafast lasers is needed before they can benefit biomedical applications fully.”

I’m not sure what a step change is - perhaps a steep change? Or is step change a British expression?

Anyway, the word of the day award goes to “robust.” Now we should all try to use it in a sentence during a conversation with someone tonight!

I know that every time we Americans whine about the cost of gas, someone will pipe up with the cost of gas in Europe is so much higher - it’s so expensive they sell it by the liter instead of the gallon, yadda yadda yadda.

Well, it’s too expensive here in the State and it is also too expensive in Europe. They had a huge truckers strike today to make that point. I’m concerned that we are getting close to seeing the same thing here, as the cost of diesel is even higher than the $4 a gallon gasoline. If the truckers start causing shortages, the cost of everything will sky rocket.

I’m getting really nervous about how the cost of gas is going to affect us all and our quality of life in America. Might be a good time to make moves toward more self sufficiency and stocking up on essentials - just in case.

Cannot believe May has flown by and it is June already! I’m SOOOO ready for summer.

This weekend had a lot of severe weather in our area with heavy winds, lots of lightning and flash flooding. The electricity went out at the house 4 times Sunday morning and there are huge tree branches scattered across the yard.

At least we turned off the computers before bed so there was no damage to them. I’ve had to reset the clock on the stove, the microwave and the radio each time - that is getting tiresome. I wish there was a little gadget about the size of a cell phone that you could point at the electronic gear and have it synchronize the clocks to the right local time. Wouldn’t that be a handy thing?

I love Chicago. It’s my favorite “big city” to go for business or for pleasure. I’m booking our flight and getting tickets from a ticket broker so we can go watch the Cubs vs the Cardinals this summer.

There’s so much to do and see in the Windy City - and hundreds of good places to eat all kinds of food, especially steaks and chops. One of my favorite restaurants in Chicago is the Chicago Chop House. It is a classic Chicago bar and restaurant and a must do for anyone who loves steak with lots of atmosphere. Anything on the menu is guaranteed to be great, and the wine list is spectacular.

In the summer you can charter a sail on one of the tall ships out on the Lake. Put that on your “bucket list.” And if you can’t fit that in on your first trip, at least take a river and lake boat tour - it’s great fun and you learn a few things about the city, too.

I read the Chicago Tribune for news you can’t get in the other daily papers. If nothing else, read the great weekly column by Garrison Keillor, humorist, author, and perhaps best known as the radio host of “A Prairie Home Companion.”