You know what’s worse than a severe thunderstorm? A Monday morning commute thunderstorm. I mean, really, we should have an ordinance that says all severe thunderstorms roll through third shift. When I was driving in, I saw patio furniture airborn. It was falling from Aqua. So if you live in the area and you are missing a table, it’s probably on top of that CVS (or someone’s car).

Anyway, power is out en masse. which is soooo going to affect my pageviews this morning. The ComEd is reporting that over 615,000 people are without power. That’s a lot of people. That’s about 50K shy of the entire state of North Dakota.

North Suburbs: 280k

West Suburbs: 156k

Chicago: 108k

South Suburbs: 80k

I knew I should have bought that Mcmansion in Crete.

B story: Dave Matthews came to Chicago (not Michigan Avenue bridge) and brought a ferris wheel. From what I heard, you had to walk a lot, you got covered in dust and you got your picture taken by Lee Bey.

Meghan Power and Kate Dries put together a nice post about their weekend, but if I were editing the raw photos, I would have gone with these photos. I would call the slideshow, “Hey! Take my picture! Take a picture of me!”

C story: Judy Baar Topinka is settling as the state’s Comptroller. She’s going to balance the books AND find a puppy a new home.

Weather: See above.

Sports: Aramis Ramirez could have gone to the All-Star game as a replacement for actual All-Stars, but he declined to spend time with his family. At least he’s respectful of the fact that he’s not really an All-Star. He’s been great the last two weeks, but Ramirez had a dreadful start to the season.

Oh yeah, here is my mid-season report for the Sox and Cubs: Go away. The Sox can’t win a game that matters. The Cubs can’t win a game. It’s annoying to me that this major sports market has two teams that underperform consistently. Consistency is not good when it’s bad.

Kicker: Hey, don’t fret if you lost power. Today: Free Slurpees at 7-11. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, folks.