Today’s my wife’s anniversary, so wish her luck because as much as a pain in the ass as her husband’s been for the past 19 years, it doesn’t look like things will be getting any easier over the next 19. Yeah, hard to believe it’s only already been 19 years since I agreed to something or other that I couldn’t actually hear because they apparently decided to divert all air traffic over my in-law’s back yard. I guess I should have known something was up when I was told to wear a suit and there was a tent set up with food and stuff. As I recall there were a bunch of candles and a 90 mph wind that managed to set a lace tablecloth on fire, and then my fate was sealed.

I tried to look up what was going on back on July 11, 1998 (a Saturday), but I couldn’t find much of anything. A guy named Bill Clinton was President (ah, those were the days), Siggy wouldn’t be born until November, my mom was still alive (less than a year to go), and we were still surfing the web on a 56k dial-up connection (though in another month RoadRunner would become available in our neighborhood and that, as they say, changed everything). OJ was still a free man, Bill Cosby was still a beloved father figure, and Donald Trump was an asshole, but a relatively harmless asshole as long as you didn’t live in one of his properties or otherwise do any business with him.

About all I could find of interest for that date was an item that Jon Lovitz had been signed on to replace Phil Hartman on News Radio (hard to believe that was almost 20 years ago), former Packer’s running back Elijah Pitts died the day before at the age of 60 (which seem terribly young to me these days), and the current “hit” on US radio was “The Boy Is Mine” by Brandy & Monica – a song (and duo) I have absolutely zero memory of. The most interesting thing I can across was actually from three years earlier in the Chicago Tribune:

As many as 40 lingering people identified by police as fans of the Grateful Dead had an illegal nightcap early Wednesday morning at the revolving restaurant atop Chicago’s downtown Days Inn. The “Deadheads” sneaked into the Pinnacle restaurant, somehow started it rotating, “broke into the liquor cabinets and decided to have a party,” Det. Todd Roney said. Twenty people were arrested at 4:30 a.m. at the hotel, 644 N. Lake Shore Drive, and charged with theft, Roney said. In addition to charges of stealing $300 in booze, the Deadheads are accused of pilfering candles used for heating food. The bizarre break-in occurred on the heels of two sold-out weekend shows by the Dead at Soldier Field.

And from the follow-up a couple of days later:

Investigators said 20 people-about half the number who had commandeered the revolving restaurant atop the hotel-were arrested.

After allegedly stealing booze valued at $300 from liquor cabinets, members of the group figured out how to work the mechanism that got the dining room of the Pinnacle, a 33rd-floor banquet facility, to begin rotating.

The party ended when hotel security called the authorities, police spokesman Pat Camden said.

Those who couldn’t post bond became temporary guests at the East Chicago District station, as did a malamute belonging to one of the suspects.

Ha! I haven’t decided if the best part of that is that they got the revolving bar to start spinning, or that they had their dog with them.

Either way, typical deadheads. No violence, nothing destructive. Just wanted to have a few drinks and dig the view.

But no time to celebrate – hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to work we go.

Happy Anniversary, honey.