1.) CTA Red Line, near Grand (and State!) stop: a thirty-something man in green T-shirt and jeans enters from the emergency door at the end of the car and launches into a typical "Ladies and gentlemen, I pray you never find yourselves in my position, but can you find it in your hearts to spare me some change or offer me some food..." panhandle.

This goes on for about a minute, and no one responds, except for one seated male passenger that giggles when the panhandler warns, "I will eat anything except mayonnaise or sour cream. I am allergic, as God is my witness."

2.) The Bureaucracy In Action Award today goes to a Chicago parking enforcement officer meter maid in Hyde Park, whom I observed issuing a parking ticket to a Meals on Wheels delivery van with its blinkers on, in a no-parking zone (the only available spot that I could see) in front of a senior citizen home. Nice work.

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