Saturday soap box

Unsatisfactory explanations

United Airlines still isn't ready to play with the big boys, it seems. Yes, holiday weather caused a lot of havoc. But the local airline still must look to itself to see why it had to cancel more than 300 flights on Christmas Day while American canceled only 45 and Southwest a mere three. Planes and pilots in the wrong place were among the explanations given. Pilots said it was because the airline doesn't have enough people for the flights it schedules. The airline vows to do better. But this is the holiday season. This is the Midwest in winter. A veteran player like United, even slimmed down, should have figured out reliable service is the cornerstone of consumer confidence.

Bears were more than bearable

Weren't the sounds and sights at Soldier Field great last Sunday? The bitterly cold weather, the snow flying about - truly Bear weather - while the fans cheered so loud that even a howling wind could not drown them out. And to top it off, the Bears whipped their detested rivals, the Green Bay Packers, 35-7. Too bad there weren't more games like that this year. But for one Sunday, it felt great to be a Bear fan.

Rising to the Rose Bowl

Good luck to the Fighting Illini in the Rose Bowl on New Year's day. It's great that the team played so well that it earned a trip to one of college football's most prestigious bowl games. It would be even greater for the team to end their season with a Rose Bowl victory. And maybe that in turn leads to the Fighting Illini blooming into a national championship contender in 2008.

Taste of Antarctica

Antarctica is known as the windiest continent in the world. It's a place where it's not unusual to have sustained gales of 50 mph. Kind of like the way the weather was around here last Sunday.

After the loss

When people hear the word "hospice," they most frequently think of a group that helps a terminally-ill patient to a more comfortable and family-filled death. But they can help survivors adjust, too, as Maple Park resident Colleen Merletti discovered after her husband's death. She and her two sons, ages 6 and 12, found solace at Fox Valley Volunteer Hospice, which acknowledges kids and adults grieve differently and helps them learn how to grieve, separately and together. So if you could use a hand adjusting to a recent loss, don't forget your local hospice. It might provide just the adjustment help you need.

Air assault?

Some airlines are going to regulate Internet access on their planes once they begin to provide it. Some will ban Internet phone calls and some pornographic and violent sites. But others say they won't filter the sites, hoping "decency and good sense and normal behavior" will prevail. Call us cynics if you like, but those three traits seem in relatively short supply these days, especially if the Internet or a cell phone is involved. How about declaring airplanes a Net-free zone instead? If smokers can go a few hours without nicotine, surely other passengers can go a few hours without a phone call or a visit to a porn site.

New Year's advice

With a new year just around the corner, and resolutions in the making, we offer this bit of advice from Benjamin Franklin: "Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man." Or a better woman. Here's hoping you have a happy, healthy and rewarding 2008.