The line on SoxFest

SoxFest people, there's no need to dress for the occasion. We all know why we’re here.

Spring is coming. I've seen it on the horizon at SoxFest.

SoxFest is the annual gathering for fans of the summer game played on the South Side. North Siders have a similar event, Cubs Convention, that's just as silly as the Chicago White Sox event—three days in a hotel mostly standing in line. Think of it as Disney World, but without the thrill rides.

Like most rituals, the fan festivals signify something unseen. A fan convention starts a process in which a major league baseball team assembles its coaches and staff for spring training. Pitchers and catchers will report to Arizona on Feb. 12, but in the bleak midwinter, fans can get a read on spring before the groundhog (which by the way a minor-league mascot in the Braves system.)

So Brenda and I go. The couples we sit with in the ballpark go. We all meet each other in the halls and coffeeshops and bars at the Chicago Hilton, comparing notes on who's available to sign what and when. Collectively we’re trying to recreate the ballpark experience by killing time creatively.

Planned renovation of Blue Line ‘L’ stops raises hope that a nearby park will be revitalized

Media creatures: MCA's 'I Was Raised on the Internet'

Eva and Franco Mattes, from "My Generation," in the Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition "I Was Raised on the Internet."

Do you talk in an art museum? It's not a library. When art speaks to you, maybe you should speak back.

At work, we needed a summer outing. So we took off for the Museum of Contemporary Art, which plays jazz on Tuesdays near the Water Tower. What could be more Chicago? And just to say we were really working, we took in the exhibit "I Was Raised on the Internet," in which artists in various media make points about media.

We really were working, though. After a round of budget-tightening at work, we needed to rebuild. The magazine most likely will be producing fewer issues with a new art director, while I'm leading a website redesign. So we're sorting out new ideas and bouncing them off co-workers. As a result, I found myself talking through what I was seeing in the art gallery. If you've done brainstorming, you know how liberating that can be. Wild ideas didn't have to wait someone ordered the second round.

For defenseless Americans, Trump budget is blueprint for disaster

Members of Congress get 20,000 testimonials to legal aid this week. Here's mine.

Congress hasn't delivered a budget on time since 2003. As it goes back in session, more than half the 2017 fiscal year is gone and government could run out of money this week. Next year's spending plan isn't shaping up well either.

President Trump's "America First" budget blueprint would raise spending authority for defense by 10 percent. Finding an extra $54 billion would a lot of cuts, which will keep my congressman, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), deep in the weeds on the appropriations committee.