And the Wind Blows the Name: Chicago

Since recently asked if I would ever consider relocating to Chicago, I've racked my brain for data about "The Windy City." I'm too lazy to actually do research, but here are some facts I know from PBS documentaries, having been there a few times, and popular trivia I've either absorbed or made up:

• Even though it's the third largest American City, Chicago is known as the Second City. I know this because of Second City Comedy I've seen on TV.
• Chicago is the setting of the TBS sit-com, My Boys - also that of the original Bob Newhart Show.
• I think there's a baseball team there.
• While it is windy in Chicago, it is known as the Windy City not because of wind, but its penchant for long-winded politicians.
• It's cold. So cold.
• Chicago rated in a recent study as the most stressful city in the U.S. largely because of traffic, unemployment, and air quality - I might add weather - so cold.
• Oprah lives there.
• Of all the states, Illinois demographics compare most closely to the U.S. as a whole in terms of the balance between urban and rural, Democrat and Republican, etc. Ok, that's not about Chicago, but it's still interesting, I think.
• Something about a Loop.
• Chicago burned down back in the 1870s when everything was made of wood, leading to a revival featuring a tradition of creative and distinctive architecture which endures today.
• Elevated trains - like subways, but above the ground, I guess.
• When I lived in Omaha, I always had to fly through Chicago and spent many snowed in nights near O'Hare Airport.
• Not just cold. Frickin' cold.
• The Sears Tower is now something else but I can't remember what.
• Lake Michigan.
• The Michigan Mile - retail Heaven if you are into that sort of thing. Years ago I went into a computer store on Michigan Avenue and saw a movie being played on a laptop computer. "What will they think of next?" I said as I put on headphones and entered a private world which I could take with me anywhere, if I were a millionaire and could afford such luxury. Next thing you'll know, they'll come up with a way to put all of your records on one little device which you can carry around. Yeah, right.
• Wacker Drive is a street the name of which always makes me laugh. Perhaps it's the images of old Chicago mobsters whacking people, or maybe it's something else.
• Hub for Amtrak and United Airlines.
• The smaller, "outlying" airport, Midway, is really just as much of a nightmare as O'Hare.
• Chicago style pizza style is deep dish, thick, and crusty - mmmm - not thin and flimsy, like the unsatisfying pizza of another city to the east.
• It is cold there. Frickin' cold.