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ANNUAL CHRISTMAS NEWS LETTER
$Eason of "94"

LAKE MICHIGAN
  NO SPEED LIMIT--OPEN ALL NIGHT
A long winded & lyrical look at the quality frivolity in the continuing short story serial about the observations and adventures of a mans private passion with his ocean racer.  He was raised by the water, got bigger, but somehow never grew up. 
(For maximum effectiveness and enjoyment, read newsletter at room temperature very late at night when you're warm in bed on Christmas Eve.)


  NATURE RULES
As I learned while boating years ago, mother nature is to be respected.  All time record cold on Jan 18 sent the mercury down to -26 below zero (actual temperature) with a wind chill of -75.  It has never been  that cold in Chicago as many of my tenants with frozen pipes blame me personally for the record cold.  ( I'm glad that I didn't go into real estate to make friends! ) I'll know that it's time to get out of property management when I find myself   on a roof with a gun.
The boat show in January had lots of new boats with two bedrooms., two bathrooms, too much money!  I went to the auto show in February just to see cars without salt all over them.   There were Vipers, Venoms, & Volvos.  There wasn't much to do during the frigid cold except enjoy the great indoors in my Bridgeport house decorated early swap meet..   I feel a sense of history here as Bridgeport has produced five Chicago mayors, including four consecutive from 1933 to 1979.  Best of all it is only 5 minutes from the boat.                 
Blow out the candles as I celebrated my 8th season with the Fast Forward boat.  I had naughty intentions at the beginning of the season by adding 2 brand new 500 cubic inch big block motors and a new blue & white cockpit interior.  I felt patriotic when I drove by Navy Pier sounding like a squadron of aircraft.  It's never too late to enjoy your childhood!
The next month brought more snow of 25 inches, an all time record for the month of February in Chicago.  But finally spring broke, the top came off of the Corvette and Fast Forward went into the water.  85 glorious degrees the last week of April.
FROM THE SHORE LINE
On June 6, the 50th year anniversary of D-Day was commemorated with a reenactment of hundreds of Marines landing on Montrose Beach, only to be driven back into Lake Michigan by heavy gunfire from the Latin Kings. They don't understand that there ain't no hood in heaven.
SOME LIKE IT HOT
The dog days of August started off with record cold weather.  I kept waiting for the Humidity Festival to begin and when it finally did I made a Jail House break to the lake.  August ended up without one day above 90 degrees and Labor Day Weekend rained all 3 days. The whole month was a little above- below average and I was as sad as a dog eating wet cigarettes.
BILLYS BOATING TIPS
Never approach the dock any faster than you want to hit it!
  NOW HEAR THIS
The endless summer has now ended.  Since I'll be 50 next August, with a little luck I still have 20 or 30 more seasons left in me.   As always I'm still playing rock and roll and we'd love to see you at one of our jobs. One never knows what the future will hold so if you reach for the moon and miss, you will still be among the stars.
I closed 1994 with a brand new arrest me red  Corvette that I gave myself for Christmas.   Have a great holiday and best of luck for the New Year!


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CAPTAIN BILL