The ChicagoBlackhawks had a down year but still have a shot at the Cup.
The Chicago Blackhawks didn’t have that good of a year in 2019-20. They went into the season with expectations of being a playoff team. Whether or not those were realistic expectations is a topic for another day but they failed to meet them nonetheless. This is a franchise trying to hang on to the last bit of hope they can before some extra hard times. Sometimes, that is what happens when the players who made you so good for so long start to move on.
They were sellers at the trade deadline which shows that even management saw their chances of being a playoff team as pretty much done. Well, not long after the trade deadline hit the coronavirus took over the continent and caused sports to shut down. That left people wondering if, when, and how the season would come back.
Well, there is still a lot of work to be done but if hockey comes back we know what it will look like. The Chicago Blackhawks will be in as part of the “play-in” series and their opponent will be the Edmonton Oilers. The five-game series will determine who goes on to participate in the traditional 16 team playoffs. It is a tall hill to climb for all 24 teams participating but especially tall for a bad team like the Blackhawks who barely made it.
Chicago Blackhawks have long odds to win the Cup.
Some odds are out on the table from Caesar’s Casino dot com and they are interesting, to say the least. The Hawks are plus-2000 to win the Western Conference. Of course, they have bad odds because they were an awful team this year. The thing that is surprising is the fact that the Arizona Coyotes, Winnipeg Jets, and Minnesota Wild have worse odds than Chicago.
As for the Stanley Cup, Chicago is +5000. That is extremely low odds of winning when teams like the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Vegas Golden Knights are sitting there at +600. The weird thing about this one as well is that there are teams with lower odds than Chicago in both conferences. The Columbus Blue Jackets, Montreal Canadiens, Arizona Coyotes, New York Islanders, Winnipeg Jets, Florida Panthers, and Minnesota Wild all have worse odds.
The reason that is all surprising is that the Blackhawks were a worse team than pretty much all of them in the regular season. The only team that had fewer standings points is the Montreal Canadiens. The Hawks are the last seeded team in the Western Conference yet gamblers think they have a better chance than some of the other teams that had great years.
The Blackhawks have lots of experience in the playoffs at the top of their lineup. Guys like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brandon Saad, and Corey Crawford have all won multiple Cups. This could be part of the reason that gamblers put some money on them. If Crawford and Kane carrier their team on their backs during a strange scenario, anything is possible.
Hi! I am Les, a practicing pathologist living in the North Suburbs and commuting every day to the Western ones. I have lived my entire life in the Chicago area, and have a pretty good feel for the place, its attractions, culture, restaurants and teams. My wife and I are empty-nesters with two adult children and a grandchild. We recently decided to downsize, but just a bit! I will be telling the story of the construction of our new home, but also writing about whatever gets me going on a particular day. Be sure to check out the “About” page to learn more about where we plan to go with this blog!
Chicago real estate is on the road to recovery from Covid-19
Since my last weekly update 2 weeks ago the Chicago real estate market has continued to slowly work its way back to normal. This is week 11, which is the week ending May 16, and it appears that the market for single family homes is doing much better (for sellers) than the condo market. There are different theories about what is going on but one of the more popular ones is that, being cooped up in their homes for weeks on end, people are seeking larger spaces. Another theory is that they don’t like the idea of sharing space with other people that may be infected.
Here is how the data looks:
Detached Homes
New listings were down 38% from last year to 318 homes
Contract activity has improved since the last time that I looked and was only down 8% to 263 contracts written
Inventory in absolute terms was down 17% to 2735 homes
In relative terms inventory is also down from last year but this is the first time since the whole coronavirus mess started. The weeks of supply of homes was at 10.4 weeks vs. 11.5 weeks last year.
For the homes that closed in that week it took 91 days for them to go under contract, down from 99 days last year. However, keep in mind that homes that closed then actually went under contract 1 – 2 months earlier so we’re always looking back in time.
Attached Homes
New listings were down 35% to 642 homes which is a slight improvement
Contract activity was down 30% to 328
Inventory in absolute terms was down 15% to 4957 homes
Inventory in relative terms was up from 12.4 weeks of supply to 15.1 weeks
Market times only shaved off one day, dropping from 76 days last year to 75 days – barely a difference.
Illinois Real Estate Showing Activity Is Back To Normal
One of the key metrics that can tell us how strong the Chicago real estate market is is the number of showings. Unfortunately, I only have access to the Chicago specific data at the monthly level but I really need much more timely information. I do have access to Illinois data on almost a daily basis in the graph below, which is a little bit funky. All the data is shown relative to the first calendar week of the year. However, it’s close enough for government work and seems to indicate that after a huge drop in mid-March it has returned to about the same level as last year.
Showing activity should get even better starting Friday since we were just notified that they are lifting the ban on showing tenant occupied units then.
Illinois showing activity seems to have returned to normal despite less inventory available
#RealEstate #ChicagoRealEstate #Coronavirus
Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.
After 20 years in the corporate world and running an Internet company, Gary started Lucid Realty with his partner, Sari. The company provides full service, while discounting commissions for sellers and giving buyers rebates.
We were driving on a super-highway, pedal to the metal, when suddenly we were forced to slam on the brakes and come to a grinding halt. At first, we stifled our annoyance but as time passed, we leaned on the horn to signal our exasperation. But the jam didn’t yield, and it became apparent we were going to be parked in place for some time to come.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the country’s pell-mell pursuit of stock market highs, cute cat videos going viral and unprecedented expressions of self-indulgence to a sudden stop.
For some, ignoring the life and death consequences, the cessation of business as usual has scratched their skin raw and led them to devising every possible way – however devious – to get back on the highway.
For others, waiting for the light to turn green can lead to an option diametrically opposite, an opportunity to pause and ask, do I want to live the rest of my life as a mad dash?
That is the big question. And here is the interrogation that must take place before you address it.
Can status and wealth fulfill you if your pursuit of it totally preoccupies you? Surely, the Dow Jones pushing 30,000 cannot be the index that defines happiness. There are men and women of enormous wealth who bemoan their lives and those who labor for minimal wage who glow with joy.
Are you “living an act,” counting Facebook ‘Likes’ to appear to be the type of person popularized by social pressure, rather than being faithful to your actual ethic and aesthetic? When did you “give in” and become someone you are not?
Have you looked honestly at the events of the past that reveal your less than admirable behavior and continue to cause you discomfort and emotional pain? Have you moved beyond berating yourself with “if only I had done this, tried that?” and instead, made amends, taken responsibility for your actions and completed the closure necessary to move forward with your life?
When you realize that the limits of the life you are resigned to, are self-imposed, what fears keep you from walking over the threshold to a life re-defined?
It’s best if this inquiry is held in front of a mirror. Look behind the reflection for the answers.
In the course of a long business career I held many titles familiar to the corporate world. But as I quickly learned the lofty nameplates no longer apply when your career comes to a close and you move from the corner office to a corner of the den. The challenge was to stay vital and active rather than idling on the sidelines. I had to create a new foundation upon which to build life’s purpose and joy.
I stopped adding up my stock portfolio as a measure of my net worth and developed a healthy self esteem independent of applause from others.
I am the co-author of The In-Sourcing Handbook: Where and How to Find the Happiness You Deserve, a practical guide and instruction manual offering hands-on exercises to help guide readers to experience the transformative shift from simply tolerating life to celebrating life. I also am the author of 73, a popular collection of short stories about America’s growing senior population running the gamut of emotions as they struggle to resist becoming irrelevant in a youth-oriented society.
JoJo is a five-year-old, gentle, loving, easy to walk, 52-pound, female chocolate and vanilla pit bull terrier-mix looking for a loving guardian.
JoJo is fine on walks with other dogs. She is not at all reactive … not even if the other dog is barking at her.
However, she was given up to a shelter in Salem, Illinois, because her family got a puppy and she was not happy about it. So, she might be happiest as the only dog in the home.
She is housebroken and gets along with people of all ages.
Her adoption fee of $200 benefits the Friends of Petraits Rescue. She is very healthy, spayed, microchipped, vaccinated for rabies and bordetella, heartworm-tested and on monthly preventative.
To meet and possibly foster/adopt JoJo, please e-mail [email protected] for an adoption application.
She is being fostered in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood.
733 W. Melrose St., Unit 3, Chicago: $1,749,500 | Listed May 4, 2020
This newly built 4,000-square-foot home on Lakeview’s east side has four bedrooms and 3 ½ bathrooms. Atop the brick-and-limestone home, find a private 1,800-square-foot rooftop with 360-degree city views. Custom cabinetry, Wolf appliances, a butler’s pantry and a wet bar make up the kitchen. Interior features include two gas fireplaces surrounded by stone with a handmade mantel, custom built-ins, Grohe bathroom fixtures, 6 ½-inch crown moldings, 8-foot-tall wood panel doors and recessed LED lighting. The master suite touts custom closets, a two-person rain shower with jet and handheld sprays, and a freestanding tub. Two parking spaces, one in a garage, are included.
Agent: Mario Greco of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago, 773-687-4696
The below column is written by Francesca Altobelli, an ICU nurse in the suburbs of Chicago
Every day, now more than ever, I contemplate life. All the added questions I have now, as if I didn’t have enough. Questions I never thought I would ponder, especially being 23 years old. How can I keep the people I care about safe? Will my dad walk me down the aisle at my wedding? Will my mom help teach me how to be a mother? Will my brothers all get the chance to hold my future children? Will I get the chance to hold and spoil theirs? Questions with answers that we all just assumed we were originally entitled too. But in a time like this, I learn now more than ever, that every day is a blessing. Maybe even for you, more than me and my experiences.
It’s hard to fathom it was only a couple years ago I was sitting in a cold blank silent room with no noise aside from my own heartbeat as I sat to take the Nursing Boards. I didn’t know what was worse— having the muffling head phones off to hear everyone’s anxious clicking to answers or to have the muffling headphones on that only made my heart beat more intensified.
It was a time when I thought that would be one of my biggest challenges to overcome in my life. When I passed the boards, I would have never thought I would be blessed enough to be an ICU nurse right away. Almost two years later, I have experienced more hardship than most encounter in their whole nursing profession in the midst of a global pandemic.
This needs to be heard.
This isn’t what any of us expected. We are greeted at the door with a thermometer and mask, we reinhale our own exhaled stale CO2 all day long and stand in the presence of the sickest patients ever imagined. Witnessing a husband speak to his wife through a phone to tell her he thinks this will be the last time they will talk, takes a toll. I have had a patient grab my hand begging me to be intubated so that his misery would cease to exist, when I stand there knowing his chances of getting off of a ventilator are slim. I have stood gowned up in a hot room for 4 hours cleaning a patient’s repeated incontinence, then assisting to intubate him, and then waiting in the same room, in the same gear, for needed emergent medications. I stood in that same room titrating the medications all while praying he wouldn’t code on me. I stand in those man-made negative air pressure rooms praying they are actual negative air pressure rooms. I stand in those rooms that are so loud that I have no choice, but to put my head close to my patients face so I can hear what they are saying. I stand in those loud rooms needing to write on a white board when I need someone to bring me something because they can’t hear me through the door. I have prayed outside of patient’s rooms hoping they would not code so my co-workers and I wouldn’t have to compress someone’s chest compromising our protective equipment breaking off or shifting off our face.
Death. A hard topic to discuss. A hard topic to grasp. A topic with no proper explanation. But a necessary topic to survive in the medical field. Death for us is different, especially for a critical care nurse. Death becomes our enemy. Death becomes our war. I have seen more death in the past three months than I have seen in my first year as a nurse.
Our nursing reports and goals are simple now- Keep them alive. How do you even pick the “sickest” patient to see first?
The truth is dark.
I haven’t met one individual that I work with that doesn’t love their job. It’s true, we love what we do; an unexplainable love for the job and for each other. Something I personally wouldn’t trade for the world. Every nurse in the world would agree that we signed up to help people, put others first, make them healthy again, advocate for them in their times of need, support them in their times of doubt, and lift their spirits in their moments of defeat.
But there is a sad certainty; we don’t wish to see you at our work. The second someone roles up on a stretcher to an ICU means we are their last option- their last possible remedy for survival.
Sometimes we feel like someone’s last glistening hope. Other times we feel stoic or heartless sharing yet another poor prognosis with pure honesty. It’s one thing to share bad news to someone’s loved ones in person where you can comfort them, hug them, touch their shoulder, but it’s another to share the unexplainable rationale of last efforts, complex medical information, and unbearable news through a phone call. I have entered dying COVID-19 positive patient rooms just so a phone call could be transferred to allow the family to say their goodbyes through a phone. We are likely to be strong, gentle, compassionate, but honest all at the same time. Expected to share information without fogging the truth, yet feeling brutal when that was our last intention. But who are we to take away families hope for a miracle? But who are we to allow the family to feel unprepared for their possible loss of a loved one? We are your loved one’s lifeline to you.
The second we step foot into the hospital we lean on each other, support each other, stand by each other in moments of literal impossibility. We need each other now more than ever to cover everything that needs to be accomplished in a shift. Every person in that hospital plays a role and a vital one. Yet, we go home every day and have moments of feeling the opposite. Like all our efforts were not enough to change an outcome.
Being an ICU nurse has taught me more about myself than I thought I even had to learn. It taught me it is possible to be strong and weak at the same time. It is possible to be put together and lost simultaneously. It is possible to be smart and still have the world of knowledge to absorb. Bottom line is, we are just as human as everyone else.
ICU nurses are trained to be quick to think, unbreakable under pressure, and precise. It is strange what comforts one person can cause another one to panic. We titrate your medications, we clean you, we sedate you to make sure you aren’t in pain, we paralyze you to give your body optimal compliance with the vent, we assist the doctor who intubates you or puts central access in your veins and arteries, we flip you from your back to your stomach all the while you’re limp from medications to oxygenate your deprived lungs, we watch your dusky cyanotic skin return to pink perfused skin, and even when you can’t talk or open your eyes, we hold your hand.
They always teach you risk versus benefit. Does the benefit outweigh the risk? With this disease it’s unclear. Now it’s also risk to others of exposure versus risk to the patient.
Too many machines, too many alarms, too many medications, too many failing organs. Alarms that we normally jumped for, but now it’s the new “norm”. Interventions could be done, but are you even stable enough for those interventions?
Your pupils are now unequal. Could be a hemorrhage? Now you need a STAT CT of the head. But you’re on too many life supporting measures- a ventilator, nitric oxide, and oscillator to help you breathe, a tube in your nose giving you nutrition, five to ten medications running through your veins to maintain your vitals, a cooling blanket to lower your uncontrollable fever that’s resistant to Tylenol- risking a transport to a CT scan could be risking your life even more. We gown up and enter your room again anyways. We adjust your vent settings even more to attempt to increase your oxygen. Your heart rate drops. Push atropine. Your blood pressure drops. Push Epinephrine and hang Levophed. You’re acidotic. Push Bicarb. Your monitor still has an EKG rhythm and a heart rate of 40, but your arterial line dampers on the monitor and then flat lines. Check a pulse. No carotid pulse- pulseless electrical activity. Family on the phone wishes no chest compressions or defibrillation anymore. You’ve been through too much.
It’s hard to balance the fact that you haven’t sat down all shift, yet you haven’t had the time to bathe, clean, or care for your patient’s how you wish someone would have cared for yourself or your loved one simply because of priorities of life saving measures. Not only do I wish I had time to care for you that way, but my other patients who need me as well. Because just when I get the time to clean your eyes or face of its natural oils and lotion your perfectly innocent skin, my other patient is having an emergency. It’s hard to feel accomplished when you wanted to do so much more.
You leave questioning if you mentioned everything to the physician, documented everything you did, questioning if your patient will still be there when you return, but most of all, questioning am I really doing what they’d want because they can’t tell me for themselves?
I lay down in bed to look at my ceiling trying to run through the events of the day and realize the sound of stillness exists, but it’s still somehow overwhelmingly chaotic.
I am honored to be a part of something like this every day. I wouldn’t trade this job for the world. It’s oddly beautiful. We take care of you regardless of the color of your skin, your religious beliefs, your sins, your economic status, or your political views because the second I encounter your face, you become my priority.
This is a journey, one we will overcome with the support of each other, even if we can’t be there for one another as we wish. All I ask is, that you never take any moment for granted.
Stay safe. Stay kind. Stay hopeful.
For those of you who have lost a loved one in this time…
Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us everyday
Unseen, unheard, but always near
So loved, so missed, so very dear.
With most sports around the world on pause, revisit iconic sports moments from the past to help fill that void.
Appearing on the Sports Uncovered podcast, ‘I’m Back,’ Tim Hardaway, Rod Higgins and Chris Mullin talk about the time Michael Jordan joined the Golden State Warriors’ practice in secret before his big return to basketball.
WTEVE and Bebop Heartthrob have quietly been making moves on the Soundcloud rap scene for years, but have always flown under the radar despite their unwavering consistency. With their new single, “FADING,” they sound sharper than ever, once again demonstrating why they deserve to be a household name within indie rap circles.
Heartthrob’s production is airy and lo-fi, with some ethereal guitar lines and off-kilter percussion creating a nocturnal atmosphere. Things intensify towards the middle of this track, with some heavy bass and psychedelic synth lines carrying WTEVE’s emotive delivery.
WTEVE’s vocal performance makes for a heartfelt, solitary affair. He matches the dark instrumentation with some self-deprecating, reflective lyrics, touching on loneliness and fatherhood from the lens of a man still struggling with the scars inflicted from past mistakes. If anything, “FADING” is a scathing self-critique from an artist who desperately wants to get out of his own head, but has no escape route.
“FADING” is a shining example of what happens when artist have a desire to paint with darker colors, and are allotted a canvas to do so. The pain is real here, both in the eerie production work and the sense of complete dejection in the lyrics. Despite having been together for so long now, WTEVE and Bebop Heartthrob continue to evolve together as a duo, reaching new heights with their newest release.
The sports world has been put on hold since mid-March, but optimism of returns for many professional leagues in America is growing. The first one to officially announce the dates of a return was the NWSL.
The league announced a month-long tournament set to start on June 27 on Wednesday. The tournament, dubbed the NWSL Challenge Cup, features all nine teams heading to Utah to play at the Real Monarchs’ Zions Bank Stadium in suburban Salt Lake City.
Seeing the German Bundesliga return has been a fun return to live sports and seeing live sports from American clubs would be a big step. The NWSL is hoping to get extra attention as the first American league to return. Commissioner Lisa Baird has been bullish as she has made the media rounds following the announcement.
Baird signed on as NWSL commissioner on Feb. 27. She was really thrown into the fire with a crisis scenario in her first month on the job. Making this tournament happen will be a feather in her cap if it materializes as planned.
The soccer calendar will be packed by the time the NWSL returns on June 27. While they will be the only game in town as far as American pro team sports and the only major women’s league to return, soccer fans won’t be short on options. How much of a boost the NWSL will get from being relatively early to return remains to be seen.
One main factor in how the league was able to start quickly is that there are just nine teams. It’s a smaller operation, which means fewer housing options and training facilities were necessary, among other things.
The tournament format includes a four-game “regular season” to seed teams for an eight-team playoff. That means every team is guaranteed four games and only the last place team won’t make the playoffs. The final is set for July 26, which means the finalists will play seven matches in about a month. That’s going to test the depth and fitness of these teams. Maintaining fitness during this stoppage won’t have been easy.
It should be fun to watch, even if just for the World Cup-like format.
On the less serious side, let’s start the Sam Kerr to the Red Stars loan push now. Kerr left the Red Stars after the 2019 season to join Chelsea. The Women’s Super League in England canceled the rest of its season and wouldn’t start back up until September under a normal schedule.
Let’s get Kerr back on the Red Stars for the month-long tournament. She’s probably anxious to get playing and the Red Stars would surely have her. Plus, she can be back to Chelsea by the start of training camp, and potentially be in better shape for the start of the next WSL season. Just sayin’…
For that matter, if there are players who opt out of the NWSL tournament for whatever reason, let’s seek out some notable internationals who want to play. Let’s get some ringers in here.
lesraff
January 17, 2020 at 12:00 am