We don’t do much holiday-wise that doesn’t include the kids, but this year was going to be different.

Aimee Mann is bringing her Christmas show to the Vic in Chicago tonight. We had tickets. We had hotel reservations at a nice place a half block away from the concert venue. We had recommendations for places to eat and places to enjoy a nice pre-show ale. We had babysitting.

Now, all is lost.

The threat of perilous weather in Chicago and the fear that we might end up stranded compelled us to make the responsible parental decision and cancel the trip.

You know, I’m a rational person. I wouldn’t normally harbor suspicions that weather events were being used to conspire against us to fulfill some sort of vendetta. But consider this.

My wife trains for five months to run the Chicago Marathon and fulfill a dream, and then on the big day, unseasonably high temperatures cause the cancellation of the race.

And now, a trip to Chicago to see one of my favorite performers of all time, a trip that we had planned since September, is thwarted. By ice! In December!

Someone or something doesn’t want us to experience life’s joys in the Windy City.

Oprah lives in Chicago.

It makes you think, doesn’t it.

From a communications standpoint, it’s interesting how he used an almost subliminal approach to deliver his message. Whereas some politicians do all sorts of verbal gymnastics to stay “on message” and avoid responding to questions that don’t fit with that message, Rauschenberger, in the number of interviews I’ve heard him give, has shown himself to forthright and frank in his responses. Several months ago Jim Leach posed a question to him on alternatives to the budget situation that seemed ripe for ducking. He surprised Leach with a lengthy and candid reply. It’s interesting then, to me anyway, how he was able to hit his message hard with the repeated references to the democratic leaders’ Chicago connection, while still providing substantive answers to Madonia’s questions.