Chicago: like Cloud City

I like living in the Flyover Metropolis.

― kenan

is that like cloud city?

― 鬼の手 (Edward III)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/36001149_dcb359933e.jpg

Lando: (to Leia) You look absolutely beautiful. You truly belong here with us among the clouds.
Princess Leia: (cooly) Thank you.

Dana Carvey as Kasey Kasem: "Keep your head in the clouds, and keep reaching for cigars."

this book cover is terribly clever:

http://www.biancolo.com/images/posts/wishful_drinking.jpg

Thank you. Chilx is now phone friendly again.

Do people even stop to think about the bumper stickers they put on their cars? I was behind an SUV this morning that has a bumper sticker that read "Sleeps with Dogs". Obviously, judging by their other stickers, they were huge dog enthusiasts... but, really? "Sleeps with Dogs"? Is this something you want to advertise?

Guys, we have to do pub quiz tonight because the first round is on The West Wing and I've watched the first five seasons in the past three months.

"Sleeps with Dogs"? Is this something you want to advertise?

It's a slippery slope, you know. If we allow that, next thing you know, people will have bumper stickers that advertise their sleeping with humans of the same sex.

ok ... what are the other rounds? i've never ever watched the west wing but hopefully i can contribute elsewhere

I can't figure out the second one yet. The anagram is "Diagonal Hayloft Mystery." Also, the match round is about the Oscars, which is also obviously in my wheelhouse.

Heaven have mercy -- I just applied for a job, apparently based out of someone's home right here in the neighborhood, the builds websites for dirty dirty purposes. The ad didn't say that, or course, it said "like Playboy." Which I would be a fool not to assume means that I'd be building pages for INeedASqueegee.com. (Available! I just checked.)

My worry is more that I will get this job, and go from "reasonably desensitized to pornography for a person my age" to "oh God kill me now." My even bigger worry is that I might be perfect for the job.

That anagram has me stumped.

(xpost)

Could easily be system + something.

Data Loofah Lying System.

Fatal Handy Igloo System.

Aalyiah Fondles Gyms Tot

er, gym tots.

Last one, honest: but it's close to something about Aaliyah Song Test.

"Aaliyah" always looks like a Jumble clue to me anyway.

it's probably got a proper name, since the anagram finder isn't pulling up anything likely

"hayley mills films" is in there

Could easily be system + something.

― Eazy, Tuesday, February 24, 2009 9:03 AM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no it couldn't ... only one 's'

trying to think of names with lots of y's

Do you guys have any idea how boring this is?

Which of course is to say, you should all be talking about me instead.

What has two thumbs and a pazcki?

THIS GAL

By which I mean me. Me has a pazcki. I've never had one of these before. It's pretty good. You Polish know how to make a doughnut.

Me too!!!!

(it's inside of me)

You got any Polish in you?

You want some?

Because there are like 15 boxes of pazckis (pazcki?) floating around this place.

Who has two thumbs in him and ate a paczki?

Jenny, that's who.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i191/fluxion23/woo.jpg

"employee was hostile...hostile behavior disrupts work flow, creates tension...at Employer, we prefer SAFETY in the workplace!"

What???

(caps and ! in the original)

shit thx, i forgot it was Fat Tues.

it occurs to me that that was entirely out of context.

From a letter from the HR mgr at Employer to the appeals board of the IL Dept. of Emplmt Security.

my favorite beads, check: little disco balls.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i191/fluxion23/disco-beads.jpg

u make me feel mightee real

I feel love, I feel love
I feel love, I feel love
I feel love

I want to make a dirty joke about Kenan's favorite beads but I'm not that kind of girl.

Every time I read" James Corden should fuck off" I think it says, "J0rd@n C0hen should fuck off" and then I wonder what he did to piss ppl off so bad.

I want to make a dirty joke about Kenan's favorite beads but then he posted "I feel love, I feel love, I feel love, I feel love, I feel love" and that probably took care of it.

haha the same thing happened to me.

happy mardi gras! i'm ducking out to play a lunchtime gig in a bit, then two more shows tonight.

My first thought was to snap a picture of myself shirtless and gyrating while wearing the beads, but I reconsidered.

Yr welcome.

"hayley mills films" is in there

So is "the royal family."

A Filthy Old Grey's Anatomy

Oh wait, I've got it: Fairy Tales and Mythology

I am generally pretty poor at mythology, fwiw.

ugh me too

i always think i'm good at mythology and then i mix things up or can't remember whatever they happen to be asking about

Dilemma: Do I read up on West Wing Seasons 6 and 7, which I haven't seen?

a) It would spoil things for me.
b) I'm kind of bored with the show anyway and was thinking about not watching it anymore.

due to my celebrated impatience with liberal fantasy, I reached stage b) after 2 episodes.

I'm In The Know about German/British and to a lesser extent Russian fairy tales, but everything I know about mythology I learned from watching Clash of the Titans. Although I have watch Clash of the Titans A LOT.

Let's just say that I own the DVD and have watched the commentary track more than once. Let's just say that.

but you aren't going to come to pub quiz, are you

No, no I am not.

I just wanted to tell you what I know, and also that I have seen Clash of the Titans a lot.

http://i41.tinypic.com/11wbyok.jpg

Oh lordy. My direct boss just quit. Which means I am temporarily in charge of the Development Department for the near (and busiest part of our year) future. And, the Development Assistant will be going on maternity leave by this summer. Lordy, lordy.

I rather wish this had happened in about 12 months, so I could make the case for being promoted. As it is, I could be in line for a raise or bonus, if I pull some things off. Hello, long hours!

I wish somebody around here would quit and put me in charge. Things would change. We'd start running this place Clash of the Titans style.

In that once a month I would gather all my employees before me to answer a riddle (workers' comp related) and then immolate anybody who guessed wrong at the foot of the big quite sculpture outside.

Whoever answered the riddle correctly would get to marry Jesse.

From your fucking office???

one of my old computer passwords in college was "releasethekraken"

I can't do pub quiz tonight btw, I need to stay out of bars for a while.

Aw, too bad. Anyone else want to join me and Nick?

From your fucking office???

lolololol

I'll be there tonight, even if it means missing what is sure to be a very boring obama speech. I know very little about fairy tales, but a vaguely decent amount about mythology (at least classical mythology)...

Clash of the Titans was the first movie I ever watched on VHS

I saw it in the theater with my mom and my best friend, and I remember the floor being so sticky that when I got up to leave, I left a Dr. Scholl's sandal behind.

we got to watch Clash of the Titans in high school latin class. :) also Masada (awesome BBC miniseries w/Peter O'Toole) and I, Claudius.

My co-worker Adam might join us for pub quiz sometime, just not tonight since it's his birthday. Apparently he used to be quite the pub quizzer when he lived in Seattle.

i just got paid good money to play brass band music for a bunch of credit union workers who clearly would have preferred to have eaten their lunch uninterrupted.

Last night a guy in my improv class -- while on stage but not playing a character -- said that he hated high school because none of the girls were hot. When pressed on this point (I wasn't that discriminating when I was 16), he said, "Well you have to understand, I went to a multiracial high school."

huh

boo

I just don't know what to say about that.

Once we called him on it, he tried to backtrack by saying something about attraction being genetically predetermined or whatever, but I think he was genuinely oblivious to the implications at first.

Later in the conversation, he produced this gem: "Everyone has baggage, but girls? Have BAGGAGE."

I hate that guy.

Sorry, PMS.

I wasn't that discriminating when I was 16

who didn't go to a multiracial high school?

That's the spirit, Jenny. (I kind of wish the improv community wasn't such a sausage-fest sometimes.)

Sorry, PMS.

― home of the vain (Jenny), Tuesday, February 24, 2009 2:32 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

LOL

who didn't go to a multiracial high school?

Krista? (lol North Shore)

there were literally only white people at her high school?

I did not go to multi-racial high schools. Or any schools.

Northern MN - white (though I guess there were Chippewa kids...)
MT - white white white white
MI - white
NC - white or you would get your head bashed in (a black Air Force recruiter visited the school one time and we had an assembly later b/c some guys called him the N word)

that guy should be booed publicly

jesse you are a multiracial high school

lol

@Nick: No, of course not. In fact, the town she grew up in is 12% Asian and 7% Hispanic -- there just aren't that many African Americans.

anyways i'm just being overliteral and saying that probably a majority of u.s. high schools have students of more than one race, even if there are just a few nonwhite kids

Nancyboy

Numbnuts

Noodlebreath

Dude's high school.

Avg. Teacher Salary: $87,909

seriously?

my second high school:

As of 2007, enrollment by ethnicity is 56.7% African-American/Black; 35.3% Hispanic; 5% Caucasian; and 3% Asian.

suburban high school teachers RAKE IT IN

Here's mine.

(I'm not sure if the demographics were the same when I was in school -- my guess is that there are more Hispanic families in the area now than there were 10-15 years ago.)

this is making me very depressed about my salary

OK yeah, this is more like it. (That's pretty dramatic.)

(The school has also doubled in size since I went there; not sure if that has anything to do with it.)

this is making me very depressed about my salary

Feelin' you.

I went to high school so many billions of years ago that I can't imagine the demographic information being that relevant. Plus the high school itself has changed configuration (was just 10-12 when I was there, and is 9-12 now) so... yeah. Still vast majority white, now, at 79%, and was probably higher when I was there.

Jesse and I were discussing state mottoes earlier, and some state mottoes are very interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_mottos. Others are extremely boring.

i like maryland's

I'm kind of puzzled by the Kansas state motto.

i don't know anyone at Jenny's office but this:

Whoever answered the riddle correctly would get to marry Jesse.

― home of the vain (Jenny), Tuesday, February 24, 2009 11:58 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

From your fucking office???

― differently valid (Jesse), Tuesday, February 24, 2009 12:01 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

made me actually lol

God, me too. And the state motto discussion started because Jesse said (somewhat in context in that I saw Dick D3vine when I was coming back from lunch today) "Dick D3vine! Sic semper tyrannus!" which made me lol for minutes.

That's the second time in 24 hours that I have heard someone mention that "Sic semper tyrannus" is the state motto of Virginia.

Well, you didn't say it directly, but still. I also didn't "hear" you, but wtfever.

http://www.drweevil.org/virginiaflag.gif

That's kind of weird, John.

Louisiana: Pretty on the inside; Ugly from the back.

This one (real) I just don't understand
Puerto Rico Joannes Est Nomem Ejus John is his name

Maybe a reference to Juan Ponce de Leon, who helped settle the island and for whom San Juan is named?

That Wikipedia page links "John" to John the Baptist. ?

Hey, I have to ask your opinion. If someone has an otherwise discipline free six-year work history, do you think the following is sufficiently egregious for immediate termination:

Saying to a female coworker, regarding another female coworker who just walked by, "I'd like to slam her on this desk and fuck her in the ass right now."

holy shit.

ha probably?

Um. I don't know what various workplaces consider fireable offenses, but that's definitely egregious sexual harassment.

wow

was the employee made aware of the sexual harassment policies and laws?

holy shit indeed
BUT
immediate termination? not really
on the receiving end of immediate, painful and stern discipline -- yes

i would worry that IMMEDIATE termination would set people up to be terminated immediately for saying things that someone (possibly someone who is overly sensitive) could find offensive

like if i said that i thought organized religion was stupid and my boss was mega xtian, i could be fired immediately for that

(i don't think anyone who is offended by what THAT person said is being oversensitive, though, just to be clear)

come on guys it's the nineties

I'd say that guy deserves to be fired, but I don't know if there are legal grounds for it? I mean, it's sexual harassment, but he could say that it was not "unwanted" unless he went ahead and said it and someone objected. Right?

Jenny, why have you brought this burden to us and then left us without guidance? What are you, GOD?

she is a cult leader, remember?

It could be argued that a reasonable person would find his talk "unwelcome"

well i thought the question was whether or not it was grounds for immediate termination -- we can all agree that it was unwelcome, no?

Right, and if the employer doesn't terminate the person, they are not doing all they can to comply with the sexual harassment law. That's unequivocal stuff he said.

What does the sexual harassment law specify, though?

It goes beyond just being offensive to another person. Like if you said that to your boss that you really don't like dogs and your boss takes offense and fires you (assuming you're not under contract), he's within his rights. But if you go violating the law and talking about fucking your coworker up the ass, he's got a responsibility to fix the problem, and firing is pretty reasonable a response.

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations, as well as to the federal government.

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

xp

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations, as well as to the federal government.

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

You don't have to get into the sexual harassment analysis yet, in that you don't have to prove that it was or wasn't sexual harassment, per se, when determining whether termination was the appropriate response to the behavior. That does bring up a good point, which is that keeping this individual on staff certainly opens the employer to sexual harassment lawsuits, and gives the employer a pretty sound business related reason for terminating the person.

In Amanda's example, though, it's a straight up Title VII breach - discrimination on the basis of religion. So while you could be fired for that, it would unquestionably be illegal.

There's kind of two issues, here. Legally, yes that individual can most certainly be fired for saying that (barring a violation of any collective bargaining agreement). Whether that person SHOULD be fired is not so clear. Personally, I would fire him in a hot second, but you probably knew I'd say that.

(did not mean to paste that twice, sorry)

OK - so yes, he SHOULD be fired. But what if he's under contract and part of a Labor Union that keeps evil employees employed no matter what they do?

was he fired?

The larger issue sub judice (lololol) is whether the employer fired this individual to avoid meeting its obligations under the workers comp act (ie an employee loses his entitlement to temporary total disability benefits if he gets fired for cause), or whether some one saying that he'd like to violently ass-fuck a coworker on a desk is sufficient cause, generally, for immediate termination.

xp - yes he was fired. If he was under a collective bargaining agreement, it would depend on the provisions in the CBA and what kind of allowances it made for immediate discharge (usually things like stealing and punching bosses).

i'm glad he was fired

How was he there to make the comment if he was out on disability?

I don't buy any of it. Your story just doesn't hold up.

since we're fielding legal dilemmas here, i wrote out this long thing about something that happened involving my mom and the police, but i don't think i want to post it on ilx. jenny, is it okay if i email you for friendly/quasi-legal advice?

Ha, yeah, me too. BTW, nothing we here decide will send him back to work. It's just a matter of whether he'll keep getting checks for 66 2/3% of his average weekly wage while he heals from his work-related injuries.

xp - He was on light duty. If he's fired for cause, he gets no more money. If it wasn't for cause, he stays home and gets fat suckling at the teat of disability payments.

xp - Definitely, Jordan!

(several xposts) I would think it would depend partially on the company's own sexual harassment policy. Ours says that an employee who is determined to have engaged in sexual harassment is subject to "appropriate disciplinary action" up to and including termination. That seems to put the ball in the employer's court to make the determination of whether termination is warranted. Which is as it should be: even though that quote sounds pretty awful, I personally don't feel comfortable making a moral decision without knowing the context of the work environment and the relationship of all parties involved. (On the other hand, I agree that there are some perfectly pragmatic reasons for a company to justifiably fire someone in that position, without knowing anything further about the case.)

I hope you don't mean "here" as in ILX.

But if that is what you mean, then I vote: For cause.

xp

Yes, in an attempt to cut costs, the state of IL has outsourced all workers' comp cases to ILX.

John, that's a well reasoned statement.

What was his injury?

I don't know, it's actually The Good Emily's case, which is about 10000000000000000x more interesting than my case.

thx jenny, i emailed you

Jenny, I slapped my boss at the Xmas party and told him that I was going to roll him in flour and find the wet spot. Is this grounds for termination?

if you slapped him on the ass, yes
on the hand, no

but no one asked me

those are not the only two options, I'm afraid

upside the head, yes
knee, no

- Into next week
- Silly

it's only okay if you slapped some sense into him

- So hard his mama feels it, yes
- His bitch up, no

that's smack

smack is wack

hey i have always meant to tell you that that guy was in one of my classes in college
a class called "the fifties" and he did his final project on roy cohn

Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron

good bye everyone.

Today I learned that when people get loud/agitated during an interaction with the police, the police refer to it as "woofing." Or at least some police do.

If I was that guy and I had said such a thing, I would just deny that I had said such a thing if only one person heard me say it.

On the other hand, if I wanted to set someone up by saying that he/she had said something, that would be an excellent statement to use.

Your honor, I believe I said that I'd like ham on rye, with a large Diet Coke right now. Maybe I was misunderstood.

good bye everyone.

― differently valid (Jesse), Tuesday, February 24, 2009 5:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

jesse, don't do it!

J., I too keep thinking that "JC should fuck off" thread is about you.

Hah, when I first saw it I thought it was about Jordan, because of the J-first name and similar looking last name.

I said that up thread, too, somewhere behind the cut!

second place in pub quiz again WHAT

I was trying to figure out how we only got 7 points in the West Wing round instead of 8, and the only thing I can think of is if he marked "Glen Walken" wrong (for the name of John Goodman's character). The full name of the character is Glenallen Walken, which I knew, but nobody ever calls him Glenallen, they always call him Glen. Not that it matters -- it would've only been 1 point.

ooh wee, i played 5 sets yesterday. should have taken today off.

i saw jesse walking to the tron today
he was grimacing and i waved at him but he did not see me

i was grimacing? where was i?

http://www.thatchickensite.com/letters/grimace/grimace1.jpg

you were walking along argyle and i was in a dirty white car. i waved but you weren't looking.

chilx missed connections

grimace is the best character ever
he is a purple gumdrop with a face and he is named grimace

lol I don't remember this:

Uncle O'Grimacey was created for an advertising narrative of the McDonald's fast food restaurant chain both in celebration of Saint Patrick's Day and to mark the annual appearance of the Shamrock Shake. O'Grimacey is the Irish uncle of the character Grimace and is a variant of the Grimace-design in that he is green instead of purple, sports a frock coat covered with several four-leaf clovers, and carries a shillelagh. His design motif is not unlike that of a stereotypical depiction of the Irish folkloric leprechaun, similar to the mascot of the football team for University of Notre Dame. O'Grimacey resides in his home country for eleven months of the year and visits his nephew Grimace in March, bringing with him his "incredibly delicious" shake. Uncle O'Grimacey is no longer used by the chain for its promotions of the shake.

grimacing...that doesn't sound like something i'd do.

xp- huh. me neither. shillelagh.

i guess you just looked cold and uncomfortable maybe

shillelagh would be a good crossword word.

my dad used to use that word.

to talk about shillelaghs?

to talk about uncle o'grimacey

mmmmmm... shamrock shake

my dad used to use the word "shillelagh" as in, "i will arise and go now, and go to get a shillelagh."

Hi, guys. WHAT IS UP?
I forgot today was Catholic day. There were huuuugggeee lines for ashes near my work.
It's also very pretty out.

best spam email subject headline ever?

"Turbines for your meat jet"

lol

i think i will take advantage of this lovely day by going to the bank and to the courthouse.

I read that quickly as bank and the outhouse.

Most recent usage of SHILLELAGH in a crossword appears to be a Thursday New York Sun puzzle from 2007, in which it was clued as "Irish cudgel."

how did you look that up?

A constructor named Matt Ginsberg (I think I've seen his byline on AV Club puzzles, maybe?) put together a software program that functions as a clue database. It's useful when a) I'm stuck on how to clue something and want to see how it's been clued in the past, and b) I'm not sure whether a word is "acceptable" and want to see if there's precedent for its usage.

The truly penitent would wear sackcloth with their ashes.

Cookie O Puss:

some enterprising individual should market a sackcloth slanket/snuggie

omg i want an ice cream cake

some enterprising individual should market a sackcloth slanket/snuggie

I like it. When you're feeling penitant, you can curl up on the couch in itchy, chafing fabric and watch, like, daytime Comedy Central programming or something.

"Back to back Van Wilder and Napoleon Dynamite! Dear Lord, please deliver me from my sins!"

As a child, I lived in dread of Lenten birthday parties. My brother and I always had to give up either cake or ice cream. Of course, coming from an "apples are dessert" household (maybe carob, if it was a special treat), the only place we could ever hope to eat these things were birthday parties.

The trick in the decision was this: we got a weekly post church bribe of ice cream. Cake, on the other hand, we really only had at parties...which were fewer and farther between. Of course, when at those parties, it was awkward and annoying to say that you couldn't have any cake.

Now I feel I should celebrate my agnosticism by eating ice cream daily during Lent.

Well, you're in luck... 38 days left!

39... 40, really. You can start today.

But try not to ash in your ice cream. :(

I have been eating ice cream that was leftover from guests and my latest thing is to mix quick oats and huckleberry jam with it. Nom.

(i only bought quick oats b/c i use them to make protein bars not b/c i'm a lazy bad person)

I have been known to eat dry packets of instant oatmeal. This is, in fact, because I am a lazy, bad person.

haha -

the key to the oatmeal ice cream thing is to add a dash of salt.

Proposed: Anyone who is A) over the age of 8 years; 2) not a hamster eating broccoli; or 3) not a rabbit stealing a cookie, is hereby barred from expressing culinary enjoyment by the use of the word "nom" or the phrase "nom nom." Violation of this proposed regulation would result in appropriate punishment, such as forced viewings of Mind of Mencia or other Comedy Central daytime television programming until the violator is deemed to be appropriately penitent.

In other words, "nom nom" irritates me to no end, even though I know a lot of you say it and you are nice people but I'm sorry but it just sounds ridiculous.

I have been holding this in for MONTHS.

do people say this in real life?

JESSE DOES.

But it bothers me on the internet, too.

Jesse says it in reference to human males, too, which gives me the fits.

like all things, overuse leads to annoyance

Jenny:

http://encyklopedie.divoch.info/images/commons/thumb/6/66/Yul_Brynner_in_The_Ten_Commandments_film_trailer.jpg/200px-Yul_Brynner_in_The_Ten_Commandments_film_trailer.jpg

"So let it be written, so let it be done."

i had this roommate, an adult woman, who used to say that food was "nummy" when she liked it. she was otherwise awesome but it was like nails on a chalkboard. oh, sometimes she called it "nummers" instead, i guess.

NUMMY!!!

UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111

Similarly unacceptable: tummy, tum tum, yum yum. The last time Jesse said "Yum yum in my tum tum" to me I had an actual rage-induced stroke and was paralyzed for the better part of a week.

acceptable: tom yum (?)

you guys must hate me
wtf do you say "delicious" all the time?

yummy isn't ok??!
i mean, what else is there?

"palatable"

MMM this food is...acceptable

palatable
delicious
top notch
delightful
exemplary

i mean seriously

give me yum or at least mmmmmmmmmmmm

also this only refers to food
i do not eat people

MUY DELICIOSO -- EN MI ESTOMAGO

if I may "toot my own horn" here for a second, I made the best fish tacos ever last night. well, not really, but they were pretty delicious. thank you foodtv.com!

― Dr. Johnson (askance johnson), Friday, January 16, 2009 12:50 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

If you want someplace cheap but delicious, I recommend Ikosium Cafe (huge tasty crepes with fresh ingredients).

― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, January 30, 2009 4:18 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

LOL we are at wishbone and the food was delicious and I'm alittle drunkbut spellcheck is helpin me

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, January 30, 2009 6:57 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i like homemade pizza co but it's not really that much harder to buy a bag o' dough from ... TRADER JOE'S ... and then throw some delicious crap on it and cook it

― congratulations (n/a), Monday, February 2, 2009 4:23 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

How did he make a connection between gays and tangy, delicious citrus fruit?

― sauced with the blood of the workers (Jesse), Friday, February 13, 2009 2:11 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Hi, Jenny! I hope your bagel was delicious? I also like mine with tomatoes, in case that piques your interest for next time.

― How can there be male ladybugs? (Laurel), Friday, February 13, 2009 3:06 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that sounds amazingly delicious (and fairly easy). I just copied it into a google doc for future reference.

― Dr. Johnson (askance johnson), Friday, February 13, 2009 5:02 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

John, you need to leave the most delicious pie in the fridge next week. Heat it up every day so that it just sits there. Or else bring in shepherd's pie.

― Eazy, Tuesday, February 17, 2009 3:41 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Post a picture of a delicious looking pizza and all a guy gets is grief! Must be ILX.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Wednesday, February 18, 2009 10:44 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

And there's no doubt that looks delicious. :)

― Bad Banana On Broadway (kenan), Wednesday, February 18, 2009 10:47 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i made my world-famous poppy-seed hamantashen last night. they are delicious.

― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Monday, February 23, 2009 1:47 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yum yum in my tum tum LOL

xp - wow that was not the name I was expecting to see at the end of that list!

i'm pinch-hitting

i am a fan of
MONCH MONCH MONCH

I can cope with "yummy" or just one tasteful, efficient "yum." "Nummy" is absurd. "Nummers" I can't even discuss.

Don't hate the sayer, hate the "nom."

that's like you're not even tasting the food xp

I really do enjoy the word "munch." It has a pleasant onomatopoetic quality.

i remember one time my boss called me and asked me to tell customers that he wasn't returning b/c he had been munched to death by lobsters and i enjoyed that.

munchausen by proxy

nomber nom in the munchaus, g

a bit ago i baked a sweet potato and put european butter on it and ate it.

1. Munch

A meal that occurs between lunch and dinner. It is a mid-lunch; munch; about 3pm.
Plumber - "Do you want you get a bite to eat? It's almost lunch time.

Bee Keeper - "No I am not hungry yet, get back to me around munch and see how I feel"
mid-lunch late-lunch not hungry food snack meal
by Lexiworld Jul 10, 2008 share this
2. munch

A low-pressure, social gathering at a restaurant or pub for people into BDSM. Particularly intended for people new to the scene who might be intimidated by a play party
Well, if you don't feel ready for a play party, drop by the munch next week and meet some people.
by Peter Nov 14, 2003 share this
3. munch

an old vagina with mussels on the outer lips, 30 coral reefs, and upwards of 50 crusty caves
"Damn, girl, how long has it been since you've used this thing? You've got yourself a crusty munch!"

or

"Dude, I heard you banged Ms. Phillips last night."
"Yea, it was gross... she had a munch."

xp - wow that was not the name I was expecting to see at the end of that list!

― differently valid (Jesse), Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:11 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i'm pinch-hitting

― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:12 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol, good job, Jordan

i refute all of those definitions.

i've actually heard of the 2nd one

^^^^listen to this, srsly

i eat on crunch n' munch

so we are only allowed to say delicious?
will note for future reference.

i don't mind "mmmmm" because i say it in real life, as in "mmmm, this almond pear tart is off the hook"

saywhatchalike

i think jenny is primarily reacting to my (over)use of infantile sounds, many of which i have made in an attempt to get jenny to react.

i (and the rest of the internet) ruined it for everyone.

can we at least all agree that the crunch'n'munch song is awesome?

I definitely agree

Amanda, you should express yourself in whatever way your food moves you. I am young; I can recover from another stroke. Besides, if Jesse stops talking like a small child whose main culinary experiences revolve around fish sticks and Go-gurt, I can probably handle everybody else's noms.

I like fish sticks.

I kind of do, too. Gogurt, however, can just fuck right off.

The trick with fish sticks is to use mayo instead of ketchup.

It was a sad day when I realized that little containers of Yoplait do not count as healthy food.

i have decided that this is jesse's problem, not mine.

also i am not going to ddpp tonight because i have a knee-ache :(

Hurt knees are no good for dancing. I'm not going because I have a work-ache. They're going to forget I exist if I don't get back on the bandwagon here soon.

i have decided that this is jesse's problem, not mine.

That's a good general solution for a large majority of life's ills.

That's a Y.P., not an M.P.

i can't find the video but there is a commercial for campbell soup in which a guy is sitting in his cubicle going to town on his soup when another guy comes by and says 'hey, we're putting name plates up - what's your name' and so engrossed in his soup is the man in the cube that he just goes "NUM! YUMMYY!'

cut to the next morning, the man returning to his cube, seeing the name plate: 'who's num yummy?'

Just punishment.

oh man i'm pretty ambivalent about this whole issue but that commercial is terrible

i used the word 'ambivalent' a lot. i don't know if this says i have a limited vocabulary or if it just reflects my general attitude

i use the term 'net neutrality' a lot in casual conversations.

net neutrality is the hobgoblin of a foolish consistency

n/a has all kinds of valences going on

that has me thinking - i actually do enjoy the word 'multivalent' and that might say something about my attitude.

i don't even know what that means!

i looked up 'valence' and i still feel like i don't really understand it

multivalent means that something operates on a nom-ber of levels

4. Having various meanings or values: subtle, multivalent allegory.

oooh! "Polyvalent"!

oh ok

yeh, the definition of 'valence' doesn't help much at all. weird.

You know what? Process servers are not as tenacious, wily, or effective as they are portrayed in the media. We have a witness who is avoiding service - the server has repeatedly shown up at her house and sees movement inside, but she won't answer the door.

Where are the disguises? The clever ruses?

4. Psychology The degree of attraction or aversion that an individual feels toward a specific object or event.

Think of valence like electrical charge. Better yet, magneticism. Could be attraction or repulsion, but there is a measurable degree of it (at least, according to this word).

Unless you're ambivalent.

You know, I've never thought of it before, but if you put it that way, "ambivalent" is a very dull thing to be. Makes it sound kinda lifeless.

i think it makes it sound more exciting, like "ambidextrous"

Yeah, as soon as I went into the bathroom, I realized that I am silly, and "ambi" in no way means "absent."

But I guess the "magnetic" meaning does hold, because if you have "both" valences, you're being pulled two directions, and will stay put.

Does anyone else find me as dull as I do right now?

I did. But then I started doing some dull work, and now I feel duller than you.

Kenan, do you ever do portrait-y photography? I'd like someone to take decent pictures of me for "online-use". Also our fucking office wants pictures of me for their website.

Nevermind, I'll just let them use this one.

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2358/156/115/806755261/n806755261_5883189_8353.jpg

Jesse -- I'll give it a shot!

And that pic is no good, you need the one with dark beer dribbling distustingly out of your beerhole like tobacco juice out of a stroke victim.

back in december, we flew airtran to orlando and back, and on the way back, the flight was delayed for five hours. after a couple of hours, they came over the PA and said everyone was getting a free one-way ticket, and a couple hours later, they said everyone was getting a free round-trip ticket. so the delay sucked, but we were like, hey, free plane tickets. they gave everyone a card that basically just has a 1-800 number to call when you're ready to reimburse the free tickets, and said we would just have to give our booking confirmation number from the delayed flight to verify

a couple of weeks ago, we were ready to book these free tickets, to fly to dc for my sister's wedding this summer. sarah called them up and they said no, we don't get free tickets, we get $25 off each ticket. sarah basically flipped out (deservedly), saying we were supposed to get free tickets, but airtran claims that they would have never authorized free tickets for a five-hour delay. they say if we fax them a copy of the card we received they might be able to help us further - keep in mind this is a generic card with no information about our flight, it's literally almost nothing but the phone number to call. sarah argues with them for awhile but can't take it anymore after awhile.

so now today i have to call and bitch people out and work my way up the chain of managers basically being a dick until they give us two free round-trip tickets. i am really not looking forward to doing this

makes me all tense just to think about it

Argh. That's terrible. Be strong, Nick. Persistence will pay off.

yeah, i bet it will work but that sucks.

QUESTION: Are there any major games of any sort tonight that would make a sports bar a miserable place to try to hold a conversation? (i hereby head off any comments about sports bars being miserable/miserable places for conversation/etc.)

thanks!

are you going to Crew?

Yes. I have a friend-date. I kind of don't want to go there, but that's what he suggested. ("that's what HE suggested, LOL!!!")

no, it's pretty much basketball and hockey right now and neither are in playoffs as far as i know

well i know basketball isn't, and if it were, the bulls probably wouldn't be in the playoffs anyways so that's not a factor. don't know what's going on with hockey

OK, thanks. I was concerned about basketball. It would be bad enough being in a crowd of sports fans, but if basketball were playing too it would suck the life out of me. (that's what HE suggested!!!)

xp - i could deal with hockey since you, sarah, and i became rather proficient in it on our trip to the UP

Bulls are off tonight, should be fairly quiet.

now dan will come on and tell us that the most important soccer game ever is tonight

the HP sauce classic or something

NHL playoffs start a little earlier than NBA, I think, but it's still at least a month or two away.

i was concerned about maybe some sort of college game

Nick, I managed to get an airline to change my plane ticket at no cost to me using the following method: 1) being relentlessly cheerful and pleasant; 2) relentlessly and cheerfully refusing to take no for an answer; and 3) relentlessly and cheerfully asking to speaking to a next level manager until they did what I want. It was actually kind of fun because I am not usually a relentlessly cheerful and pleasant person in these situations and I finally got to put all that acting experience I gained as a member of my high school drama club to good use.

Jesse, the next time you get mad at me, remember this time that I did not post any number of pictures to this thread.

huh that is a good tactic, jenny

I think I read about it on ask metafilter!

i was going to get in character as mr. executive-asshole-who-always-get-what-he-wants but now i will shift my character to mr. insane-sunshine-and-lollipops

As an assistant to the stars, I have learned that acting like you're grateful for the rep's time and effort is super helpful. AKA, being polite. I've gotten really good at it.

Nick, hire me to call about your tickets.

now dan will come on and tell us that the most important soccer game ever is tonight

One thing I've learned in my journey into soccer fanboydom is that *every* soccer game is the most important soccer game ever. The UEFA cup is on but I doubt many bars besides the Globe will be showing that.

Btw: Crew and the Globe are in the running for some kind of bar-off sponsored by Shiner beer and ESPN radio Chicago. http://stations.espn.go.com/stations/espnradio1000/specialFeature?id=shiner

Also, LOL @ "HP sauce classic"

I have a hard time imagining Crew being packed for a soccer game - basketball, definitely.

Their web site has a calendar, but it only lists special events. Tomorrow is the Hot Jock Strap Contest and

Frat Boy Friday Returns

Cheap beer and cheaper boys will be at Crew on Friday, February 27th.

crew's url
http://www.worldsgreatestbar.com

<3 thunderstorms

the electricity went out at school, and we were told to dismiss classes. i stuck around and reviewed s/v agreement under the skylight. more than half of my class stayed!

it was kind of fun playing frontier teacher. i wish i could have been dressed for the occasion though.

http://www.filterpressbooks.com/_images//touchtom.gif

aggggggggggggggggggghhhh frontier woman
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3293/2309476217_8b513c9cae.jpg?v=0

yay thunder!

boo being in a virtually windowless office.

called airtran, they again insisted i needed to fax them the card with no information on it and then they would call me back. i went up to the ups store to fax the card but their fax line was having problems so they said they would keep trying and call me when it went through. so now i'm waiting for a call from the ups store, after which i have to wait for a call from airtran. frustrating.

gettin some serious thunder here, cats are freaking out

When I hear THUNDER!

You know it always brings me DOWWWWN!

Lightning up here too.

Weird, ours appears to be over. You'd think with only a few miles separating us, we'd both hear it.

Which reminds me:

http://i44.tinypic.com/jht0d2.gif

it's storming here too

My friends in Minnesota are all talking on Facebook about leaving work early, schools closing, etc. 5-7 inches up there.

It's funny how, despite the fact that there is a window 25 feet from my desk, I always find out about rain- or snowstorms from you guys first.

also odd: our phones appear to be out, but the internet is working fine

Do you have DSL?

Nothing is out here. I was worried about the electricity somethin' awful for a minute there. Last time the power went out, it was out for three days. I don't have three days.

we have hail! dippin' dot-sized hail!

Facebook update! Go check out nick's new pic.

wow, he looks just like big nick!

your eyes are totally the same.

i think it took little nick awhile to grow into his head

huh now our heat appears to be out

Do you have DSL?

YSI?

ASL?

Extra blankets?

hey guys

Hi Nick.

Do you have DSL?

today's the big day.

i have a digital subscriber line, yes

Oh Nick - I had a dream about your plane ticket situation. Some friends and I were looking at the plain business card that you talked about and they figured out that it had some special properties or something.

We discussed how awesome it is to have friends who work for the airline.

It was maybe the most boring dream I've ever had.

I had a dream this morning about a poker game with the guys I regularly play poker with, and I played a few hands in a way that felt very life-like (I had a full house, but there was a good chance that someone else had a better one, and I wasn't sure how to bet). The end.

i dreamed i was at a friend's house listening to his new record and being like "i wish i could come up with something that good", and then i woke up and realized that's not what his band sounds like at all. i sung the melody into a recorder before forgetting it, when i get home i'll try to figure it out on the keyboard. in my dream there was free jazz drumming with vocal samples punctuating the cymbal crashes, i should probably try to record that too.

I love writing or hearing songs in dreams -- they always sound awesome. In fact, I dreamt last night that I was doing perfect a cappella renditions of various '90s indie rock songs. I think one was a Pavement song, but I can't remember now.

And by "a cappella renditions" I mean I was imitating the guitar parts and the drums and stuff, too.

i love music dreams too. sarah had a music nightmare the other night where she and a random female drummer had to play the ff's show at the whistler and they couldn't remember any of the songs so they had to try and improvise a bunch of songs

yeah, i've totally had music nightmares but i almost never remember music from dreams, so i was really excited when i woke up. especially because i haven't felt creative at all for the last month or two.

once when i was in middle school i had a dream where i was playing bass for jimi hendrix, that was fun

That may be a nightmare for Sarah, but I would love to see that show.

was the imaginary female drummer hot?

i just made a playlist of stuff i've downloaded recently:

new black lips (awesome, might be my favorite album of theirs)
new bonnie prince billy (first i'm listening to it)
new obits (dude from hot snakes/drive like jehu who wasn't in rocket from the crypt's new band, didn't sound that great on first casual listen)
new yeah yeah yeahs (sounds pretty good but like a different band)
death - for the whole world to see (obscure punk band reissued on drag city)
notorious b.i.g. - ready to die (i actually paid for this one)

they couldn't remember any of the songs

I have dreams like this, too, but I don't think it's ever been music-related, strangely enough. (It's usually not being able to remember my lines in a play.)

Raymond Carver said that a good opening for any story is a phone ringing in the middle of the night. Biggie proved that completely with "Who the fuck is this/paging me at 5:46 in the morning?" I love how the time there is just perfect: the time when even a late-night player or an early-morning grinder is going to be asleep.

EZ, do you know a guy named M1ch@el P@trick Th0rnt0n (founder of the G1ft Th3at3r)?

Yeah, he's a great guy.

He was in my improv class this past term. Awesome dude. I have to admit, when he showed up on the first day, I was like, "oh, that's cool that this guy in a wheelchair decided to take improv classes, but he's going to slow us down" -- and then he was one of the most naturally talented performers in the class. Didn't know anything about his background until recently.

it sounds like you learned a lesson about life that day

^ dick

I sure did.

Yeah, he's a really good actor, worked with St3pp3nwolf, and he happened to have some health problems come out of nowhere in his late 20s, so he hasn't been disbaled for long. His company is one of the best in the city, especially as far as storefront theaters go. I think they're doing some improv nights there.

(Actually, if you ever want to go to one of the improv nights up at that theater, I'd be up for seeing it. When folks ask me if there's a theater company to join as a subscriber, they're the one I recommend -- consistently good. I'm not a fan of the current play they're producing, but I'm sure they're doing it as well as it can be done -- it's a really fantastic group of actors doing intense, good stuff.)

They're doing Bogosian's Talk Radio next; I'd go see that.

there is an unusually great amount of sticky-note passing going on in this office today

http://www.bestweekever.tv/bwe/images/2007/11/OFFICE%20LIL%20HOT%20DOG%20MAN.JPG

Passive aggressive notes

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3107/2854148438_9154cd0943.jpg

my favorite so far.

more of these notes should be left in cake form.

another one! WTF.

OK, it's that time of day where we talk about lunch. I'm either going to go get something ultra-delicious or I'm going to steam a big bunch of sugar snap peas, which will be somewhat delicious, but not thrilling.

I'm gonna rock it with some lentil soup.

Fucking elevator is out A-GAIN, so sugar snap peas it is.

think i might catch the bus down to wicker park, eat at earwax or zen noodles, and browse at quimby's and reckless

or drive to kuma's since i've never been there

which do you think?

Either sounds preferable to sitting in my office this afternoon. I'd vote for Kuma's, but only because I haven't been there yet either.

I would prob go to the WP. Haven't spent an afternoon like that in a while.

yeah me neither, used to be my standard friday afternoon when we lived down there

anyone want to join me at any of those places?

WP sounds like more fun, but Kuma's is new.

i would go to kuma's, but maybe not if i was a vegetarian?

so apparently I have a phone interview with Loyola on Wednesday. WTF I applied for this job 700 years ago, but I guess that's how things work. I want this job so badly which is obviously going to cause me to fuck up the interview.

go to kuma's and sit at the bar. they have vegetarians food there too. if nothing else, the mac and cheese is something to behold.

also this is about the only time when you won't have to wait like 3 hours and eating alone is faster/easier. when i've been there for weekday lunch there have always been various people eating alone, cops and contruction workers chatting, etc.

construction i mean

today in my class we talked about "sexting"

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=566_1235483062

Pretty cool CG recreation of the Hudson River plane landing w/ the actual audio.

Chicago: Eating Alone is Faster/Easier

it is, isn't it?

It is, it is. It just makes me think of
http://www.uwm.edu/Course/448-192-001/hopper.jpg

it is!

(I mean, I like nothing more than a fast/easy lunch at a public place with a newspaper.)

I get what you're saying, Amanda, but it's still funny.

sadly, i don't even see how this is funny

i ate alone a lot as a child, so it never seemed weird to me at all

I just liked it as a self-contained phrase, wasn't making fun of it at all because I do it every day.

How about: Chicago: English as a Sexting Language?

but sexting is photos

It's not hilarious, just sort of amusing b/c speed/ease of *eating* (as opposed to cooking, ordering, etc.) is what you seem to be valuing, and the fact that others might slow you down. It sounded comically pragmatic - like something my dad would have said.

It's actually not funny at all.

xp

To me it was funny in the way that the Hopper painting is funny, by which I mean sad but not sad compared to gangbangers pillaging or random disease.

Sexting is photos? I thought sexting was sexy texting.

no, sexting is sending nudie photos via text

apparently this happens a lot. one of my stoods said that there was a girl in her class at cl3mente who "god help her, was extremely ugly" who sexted nudie photos of herself to the entire baseball team. it was a big deal.

I don't think my phone is capable of receiving sexts. I'll need to rectify this before baseball season starts.

lol @ amanda's student

i eat out by myself all the time, i'm always surprised when people think this is weird. i guess i would feel self-conscious if it was at a fancy restaurant or something.

hmmm...I was unaware of the term "sexting" until now, even though the first google result for it is from CBS news. Me=old.

the issue is that the girls who send them, if they are underage, are sex offenders/dealing in child pornography acc. to current law, so they could be felons in addition to being embarrassed when someone forwards their pics to 100 other people, who have suddenly received child pornography on their phones.

jordan, you and i are accustomed to eating alone b/c we are only childrens?

I sent this to Jenny, but I think the rest of you might enjoy it.

VIOLENCE VIOLENCE!

http://www.videodetective.com/photos/087/003680_38.jpg

Yeah, the idea of sending photos via text message is still sort of The Future to me. (I would've assumed "sexting" = "sexy texting," too.) It reminds me, there was a scene in American Teen in which a girl e-mails a topless photo of herself to a boy she likes, which then gets forwarded to the whole school and ruins her reputation. Kids these days!

who is that adorable rabbit-toothed woman?

I used to have the capability to send picture mail, but then Sprint became a bunch of bitches and I couldn't afford it or something. Soon though - very, very soon - I will have a camera phone again, and everything will be fair game.

xp- that's Honey from WAoVW! She says "VIOLENCE! VIOLENCE!"

Also: I don't mind eating alone if I'm at a cafe or sandwich shop or whatever, but it starts to feels a little weird if I'm at a restaurant with cloth napkins. The difference is probably that getting a sandwich at Costello's is usually just a quick, efficient way to feed myself, whereas "dining out" is often as much about the social experience as the food. There's certainly some self-consciousness if I'm the only one there by myself (more so than a movie theater, where the darkness renders your companion obsolete for two hours, anyway), but more than that, I'd feel like I wasn't really taking advantage of being there. In general, going to a burger place for lunch on a weekday probably wouldn't be too weird, but since I've never been there before, I think I'd want to enjoy the experience with someone else first.

jordan, you and i are accustomed to eating alone b/c we are only childrens?

probably! i didn't even think of that, i was just thinking of being a single dude, but of course i grew up eating by myself all the time (especially in the summer).

the stress of large social dinners is fun once in a while for me, but usually it's taxing/tiring. this "social aspect" of eating in restaurants is clearly an attraction for a lot of people, but more than 4 eaters at my table (incl. me) and i feel a little overwhelmed.

dinners for two are ideal for me. (not surprisingly, this is how it was most of the time when i was growing up.)

something else i learned today:

that when myspace is blocked at school, the way stoods get around it is by using some site called air pr0xy, which allows them to log on. i saw one of my stoods googling "air proxy" and i walked over to her, wondering wtf she was doing, b/c it sure wasn't her homework. she just couldn't stay away from myspace.

kids still use myspace, huh? i thought it was just facebook these days.

omg they totally still use myspace lol wtf

^^ that is what her emails look like

she's a good student though, don't get me wrong

There are tons of proxy sites, it's one of the ways that people who have been IP banned from ILX get back in.

Two people at dinner can still be social. One thing I like about going out to dinner with Kr is that most of the time we pay attention to each other more and thus have better conversations than at home, where we are more prone to grunt distractedly.

not ever having been banned from anything, i had no idea!

I got banned from a soccer blog for making fun of other teams' fans too much. :( Occasionally I will proxy in order to post something. Really, the internet soccersphere is chock full of some of the most ill-founded, hyperbolic opinions I have ever encountered -- MUCH worse than ILM.

that's hard to believe. i can't help but find it hilarious that someone banned you from posting somewhere.

I know, right? I'm all sunshine, happiness, and good vibes!

at home, where we are more prone to grunt distractedly.

Play on, playa.

i went to wicker park, it was pretty fun

people are weird about doing things by themselves. obviously i do most things with sarah but i'm fine with going out to eat or see a movie or a show by myself.

my donut is gone. :(

i took the blue line the wrong way from downtown A-fucking-GAIN and wound up at Division before I realized it. :(

i guess one thing i still feel weird about is going to a bar by myself. i'll go to see a band play by myself, but won't go to a bar just to chill (unless it's the kind of bar you can read a book at)

although the only people who i can picture going to bars by themselves are middle-aged alcoholic regulars

:(

weird- i would never ever consider going to see a band by myself, but i would certainly go to a bar by myself, esp. in when out of town.

xp uh...

xxp :(

oh, uh, sorry dudes. maybe you can teach me the zen of solo bar-going?

i don't think i'd feel weird about going to a bar by myself unless it was like a supercrowded bar late on a friday or saturday night

going to see bands seems like an ideal solo situation because the music's going to be too loud to talk anyways. when we lived at the old place, i went to plenty of shows at the empty bottle that sarah didn't want to see

because when i go to watch a band i have something to do, and it's usually too loud to talk to anyone anyway. if i go to a non-music bar by myself i get self-conscious because it's a social meeting place, most people are there with friends, etc.

xp

i guess if i were going to a bar by myself it would be to a) watch a sporting event on tv (i've done this, going to brownstone to watch cubs cable games last year) or b) read a book or magazine by myself

it's much easier for me if i'm out of town b/c then i have an automatic topic of conversation, plus i feel more confident knowing that i'm from out of town and therefore have good reason to be there alone.

in town...well, what's your reason for going to a bar alone in town? (i have gone b/c i was tired of being in the house, or b/c i was looking for some flippy-flop)

it helps to go when it's slow and chat w/ the bartender.

i would just feel weird and awkward at a show alone!

also, as with TV and movies, i like to have someone else along to experience things with me. same with travel.

so why don't you feel weird and awkward at a bar alone? because you end up meeting people?

i don't know. i just don't know. it doesn't make sense and i've been sitting here wondering that myself but i just. don't. know.

The problem with going to shows by yourself is not the part when the band is playing but the part before that, the set change. You're standing up in a crowd, so it's not like you can pull out a book or anything. You just have to stare ahead and sip on your drink. Whenever I've done this, I've found myself fiddling with my cell phone a lot.

what kind of music do you guys want to listen to at our party?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414APX0TJFL._SS500_.jpg

L'il John?

Maybe a compromise between me and Jesse?
http://www.davepye.com/uploaded_images/crowded_house_of_pain-753883.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/2744675409_1b5e102433.jpg

I would probably be cuntent listening to Diamanda Galas all night.

It's funny - when I was a waiter I would walk around with a week's salary in my wallet, but now I feel weird just carrying around rent. (My landlord prefers cash.) I feel like I'm going to lose it or get robbed.

i would totally feel weird if i had to deliver my rent money in cash, jesus.

She's a batty old Mexican lady who lives in the building. She used to teach where Amanda teaches, btw.

Landlord could be knocking on your door and say Where's the rent and you hand him the cash and then the next day he knocks on your door Where's the rent and you're like Gave it to you yesterday and he's like Nuh-uh you didn't.

She writes "receipts."

In the air.

I keep forgetting I have an envelope of cash in my messenger bag. It's not a whole lot of money, just Oscar pool winnings, but I haven't bothered to transfer it to my wallet.

Have you done so now?

Nope, not yet.

I'll eat out, go to a bar, or to a show by myself. No problem. I will play with my phone, but I do that even when I'm out with people I know.

Someone stole the Shaggs' bass drum. WHO WOULD DO SUCH A THING?

AJ, Good luck on your phone interview!

Dan, it is hilarious that you got banned for being a jerk to soccer fans.

I love eating alone and often prefer it. I also enjoy going to movies and bars* and coffee shops and book stores and shopping** alone. I will be going to the opera alone at some point in the near future. I guess I would prefer to see a band with company, just because I am rarely motivated to go see bands enough to go by myself. *In the afternoons, anyway. Going to a bar alone at night is usually asking for a lot of unwanted attention from really irritating hetero males who assume that a woman in a bar alone at night deserves their romantic attentions. **It is fair to say that I vastly prefer shopping alone, and really really dislike shopping with other people.

N&S, Jeff and I both have to work today (Jeff is leading some sort of eight hour training craziness, which sounds exhausting to me and I love public speaking and bossing ppl around) so our attendance at your party tonight depends in large part on how all that working on a Saturday bullshit goes.

I'm an only child, too.

Hi guys. I like this picture of a dog.

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1441/dog.jpg

Yeah, I'm working today too, which is okay but I'm not sure if I'll make it to the party either. Depends on how exhausted I am etc etc

So far the library has been really slow today, but I fear an afternoon deluge. We are also showing a movie which I have to introduce so I am looking up quotes from IMDB. "the esteemed critic EBERT said in his review blah blah blah"

Which movie??

I like that picture of a dog, too.

"the joy luck club." The film showing is part of the "big read" where a bunch of area libraries are hosting too many events based on the book.

I saw that one in the theater, but I don't remember it at all.

I got dumped pretty bad once and went into a fit of obsessive, depressive reading, including the Joy Luck Club and I remember one day waking up and doing nothing but reading that book and crying all day. I've never seen the movie, though.

You should use that as your intro!

ha well, all the reviews of the movie I've been reading seem to indicate it is one tear-jerking scene after another.

!!!

I think that's too close to my name for comfort. Can you mod request that out of existence, plz?

doing so now! sorry.

It's okay! Thanks for addressing the situation so quickly.

I love you so fucking much, Jesse.

but in the interest of compromise, i am going to change my screen name to your full name.

the joy luck club the movie is entirely a series of tearjerking scenes. there is something really fucked up about it, but i always watch it when it's on tv. and always end up crying.

i can't think of a way to introduce that movie that isn't deeply ambivalent so i don't think i can be helpful. :(

the acting is good, i guess.

I think the best option is to introduce the film in a stilted and offensive Charlie Chan accent.

shamed LOLing

When you're finished, make a going noise.

This commercial is smarter about stereotypes than it gets credit for, don't you think?

I could see it, but I would defer to the opinion of someone of Chinese ancestry on the issue.

Or, someone who isn't a nice white lady, anyway.

WBEZ is re-running a show about new orleans brass bands right now

Sorry sorry to be missing the party. Got a deadline to finish some work. Would love to be there.

You were missed. Someone asked early on if you were coming, and later Lindsay showed, and I had to inquire of her as to your whereabouts. She assured me they involved nothing sinister or untoward.

Thanks for the party, N&S! I had fun.

I hope Jesse and Tomas are somewhere now happily bare-knuckle fighting and not breaking anyone's furniture.

Lindsay and I met a few personalities on the train -- a clearly intoxicated young black woman who was very down on the idea of frog legs, and we all know this because she said it seven times. Also a bunch of college kids who were out wilding, swigging from a bottle of tequila that they said was really bad stuff. I took a swig of it -- not bad at all. Also the price tag was on it -- $16.99 is a pretty decent bottle of tequila, kids. Oh, I get it, you're spoiled, dorky, and clueless. Anyway, there was also a guy who got on the red line with us too, who was drunk (who's sober on the train at that hour?) but very nice, and riffed about Chicago history, with me adding details every so often. I liked that drunk guy.

Then Lindsey made me tea and told me about a book she was reading about Hans van Meegeren's fake Vermeer paintings, which of course launched me into a long riff about Elmyr de Hory and "F for Fake." Anyway, I had fun. It's good to leave the house. :)

i'm making chili a la gbx. it's too watery though, i'm cranking up the heat and hoping for the best.

yeah, this chili is gonna be just fine

Fun party - thanks N&S. Jack Daniels (and all hard liquor) is bad bad stuff and I should never consume it. I was boozy Suzy this weekend.

i had fun too, even though i left early. you can count on me to hold down the early shift.

I was going to call in sick for Pulaski Day, but I did not.

Yeah, weren't the unemployed among us going to have a private parade?

that was the talk.

Nah forget it. Not Polish, plus have shit to do.

i am polish and at work :(

I am German, and at work.

i thought you were mexican

I wear many sombreros.

I think the unemployed/vacationing Pulaski Parade fell apart at the seams.

reposted from the "what did you use to look like" thread.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i191/fluxion23/quaff.jpg

Cheers.

john already found this but i helped organize this weird project and contributed a laurie anderson pastiche song to it:

this is not "No Line on the Horizon" by U2

which artist are you on the tracklisting here?

scare quotes ... it's a name i use for home recorded stuff sometimes

also i'm a "hip librarian" (or library student): i'm writing a preservation assessment of the punk planet collection at the chicago underground library

i was worried i didn't use the word "pastiche" correctly but it seems i did

Let's talk about our feelings about John Cheever. I think I've only read maybe a short story or two of his. Anyone have opinions?

I read a collection of Cheever stories about seven years ago but don't remember much apart from "The Swimmer."

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Kazimierz_Pu%C5%82aski.PNG/250px-Kazimierz_Pu%C5%82aski.PNG

Casimir Pulaski

does not look like a bro

Jordan, next Pulaski Day I expect you to wear a Pulaski 'stache.

FRODUS

<-- listening to the new Morrissey album for the third time today. It's seriously no-shit excellent. Favorite album so far of 2009.

Also pretty fine: the Dark Was The Night compilation. But I haven't gotten all the way through that. (31 tracks.)

Hmmm...I'm scared to listen to new Morrissey, but perhaps I will try to over come my fears if you say it's that great.

Warning: it rocks.

No, really, think Vauxhall or Your Arsenal.

Oh Vauxhall- I haven't heard that since 1995. I wonder what happened to that tape. I do not know Your Arsenal. I do know the one w/ Every Day is Like Sunday.

That's either Viva Hate (the proper album) or Bona Drag (the singles comp), take yer pick. They're both stupid classic.

Jesse, do you need a Morrissey hook-up? :)

Viva Hate. I don't know a Morrissey hook-up means....

I mean, I have all these records. I can make you a big fat mp3 comp, if you like.

I cannot get you a date. Even I am not quite that cool.

That would be lovely! Thanks.

I'm all over it.

Jesse, here's an episode of The Dick Cavett Show with John Updike and John Cheever:
http://cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/a-last-look-at-updike-and-cheever/

I think I convinced Jenny and Dr. J to vote for Tom Geoghegan today. I know a lot of you are either in the 4th or the 9th congressional district, but if you're in the 5th (Nick and Sarah come to mind, I don't know who else), you should vote for Geoghegan. Yay democracy!

Not in the 5th - I'm spared the burden of democracy.

shout out to luis gutierrez from the Fightin' 4th

Stick around till the end

sup

Shalom, ya'll.

So first, can anybody recommend any Richard Price to me? I read one that I can't remember the name of but I think was his most recent (it's about cops lol) and I liked it a lot and would like to read some more.

Second, I was on the train going to the library during lunch today and as the train entered the station at Library/State and Van Buren, a very normal looking woman standing next to me who had been muttering for most of the ride looked at me and said, "Southern Jewish matriarch. Large and in charge. You really went to bat for me. Southern Jewish matriarch. Thank you." I said, "You're welcome!" and got off the train.

!

"clockers" is still the classic price in my opinion, but really anything he's written from clockers on is worth reading ... i haven't read any of his earlier stuffy (pre-clockers) so i can't weigh in on those

earlier stuffy

Jenny, we really need to get serious about collecting the crypto-nuts genre of kooks.

i liked samaritan the best, then clockers, then freedomland.

i'd probably go clockers, lush life, samaritan, freedomland, but they're all great

i still haven't read lush life b/c i don't think it's in paperback yet, is it?

not sure, i just got it from the library cuz that's how i roll

Lush Life is the one that I read and liked v. much. I will read all of these recommendations.

I went to the library to get Anathem and I have the following initial observations: 1) omg it's really huge to be carrying around in my purse for however long it takes me to read it; 2) I think I am almost to the point of finding Neal Stephenson insufferable; and 3) this might be because in his dust jacket picture, Neal Stephenson looks like a less sinister version of my Worst Boyfriend Ever (not the Joy Luck Club/crying jag boyfriend).

Also my coworker loaned me Oscar freaking Wao so now I can catch up with the rest of the USA.

anathem was really weird in terms of pacing, you'll see what i mean. i enjoyed it overall but dude needs a serious editor

i was talking with katie about oscar wao at the party on saturday and i forgot to mention one thing i really liked about it. there were these frequent passages in spanish -- and they weren't translated! they were just there, unapologetically, like "understand me or not, i don't care" i thought that was pretty bold.

Jeff and I have been watching Dexter on DVD and they don't subtitle the Spanish. Lucky for our comprehension, it is a lot of cursing, which is about where my current Spanish language proficiency tops out these days.

how is dexter? we've had the first disc on our netflix for months now but it keeps getting pushed down in favor of other stuff

It's really good! I was a little squeamish about it at first (still am sometimes) but now that I'm a little more familiar with the show, I'm not as worried that I'm going to be blindsided with some horrible gruesomeness. There's a lot of dark humor. We're about three episodes into the second season, which is definitely deep into the "WTF am I doing feeling so completely sympathetic to a fucking serial killer???" territory, which I kind of appreciate.

i have been meaning to mention this, because this thread doubles as the "chicago reader complaint thread" but that article about the guy who tried to climb up his fence, fell and died and also played kickball? i am sorry that he died, but what was the point of that article? second only to "crazy scenester drinks drano"

The movie is up for a Darwin Award.

for real?
is that why? the whole thing was so melodramatic

I liked Dexter but for the chewing. I have to remind myself that it's there for a purpose, but still, MONCH MONCH MONCH right in my face is gross.

I am dog-sitting for the next couple of days! Surprise! (a most welcome surprise b/c I was just noticing that rent + student loan = bouncy checks)

No, I'm just being an asshole. xp

i guess i just don't see how "dude plays kickball, makes friends, dies after ill-advised scaling of a fence" is a cover story.

The point of the article was that kickball brought people together into a sort of family. Whether it's front page material, I don't know. The Reader has often done sort of softer slice of life sorts of stories, haven't they? Even as front page?

Incidentally, I want to email the gay kickballers that article and tell them that kickball is better when it's not a life-or-death matter to the players.

sorry, to me that is just not valuable news
a dude making friends (even really good friends!) doesn't count as interesting to me

If one of the players in my league had tried to take bases out of order or other tomfoolery, he would have been lynched.

xp- I think you're not giving them credit for their angle. But I respect your opinion.

yeah i can't help it. it just seems weak and tired to me for a big city weekly. is there nothing else going on? no injustice anywhere to cover?

I liked Dexter but for the chewing.

In the opening credits? Yes, it's totally gross. We just skip that part. I forgot to tell Nick that: chapter skip to the start of the episode because the "Previously on Dexter" parts are like ten years long, and the opening credits are really gross in a chewing/close up of sweaty skin kind of way.

I haven't read the article, Amanda, but from your description it sounds like something that would make me say, "Of all the people who die every day, accidentally or by violence or for a good cause or for no reason, surely there is someone more worthy of a cover story." Because I'm a bitch like that.

OH I forgot that on the way back to the train from the library, a very obviously crazy guy threw his newspaper at me, but by accident. He was gesticulating wildly and yelling and whacked me in the chest and neck with a copy of the Sun Times. He apologized, though!

i guess i'm a bitch like that too.

But couldn't you say that for their features covering the arts?

xp - also the chewing motif throughout. he says that he loves to drive and eat, and his gob is often right up in the camera.

and the article is NOT about the guy who died or how he died - it's about how a guy died and a strong group family-like group that united over silly times playing kickball were there for him and his real family emotionally and financially.

Huh, I did not really notice that much of a chewing motif. I was probably distracted by all the corpses and murder.

Heh - yeh, gallons of blood are cool, but Jeff Lindsay's face stuffed with banana - no way.

Wait...I'm confusing that name....

i guess i just expected it to be a little more substantial and/or have a point aside from "this guy had supportive friends"

Oh crazy - Jeff Lindsay wrote the article on which the series is based. I had no idea there was one! Michael C. Hall is the titular character.

Yeh, I was trying to think...Anthony Michael Hall??

Yes. Anthony Michael Hall.

Did I mention that it was a pleasure to meet Dr. AJ the other night? Because it was. He is a bro amongst bros.

i agree -- he was really nice! his girl seemed nice too. they get points for even showing up!

I'm with Jesse. The Reader is not really in the business of covering traditional "news." Here are a few other recent cover stories:

Not Coming to a Nordstrom Near You
Fashion designers Christopher Peters and Shane Gabier believe the way to the big time is to think small.

Seeds of Change
How a boutique booze brand in Chicago could help popularize a South American supercrop—and change the lives of the poor farmers who grow it.

He Helped
The bright start and untimely death of innovative young arts administrator Ben Schaafsma.

One Man's Drive Is Another Man's Disorder
UIC prof Lennard Davis argues that obsession is largely in the eye of the beholder.

The Whole Hog Project
The culmination of a year-and-a-half-long series in which an unrepentant omnivore faces his food.

The Magic Easel
Twin artists Trevor and Ryan Oakes have invented a new way to draw.

ok i see what you're saying, but i still thought that article sucked

guys get ready -- i have a treat for you. i just hooked up the scanner at the office, where i had been keeping my 1977 Clemente yearbook.

here is 1/2 of the senior class photo -- my apologies if this is enormous
http://i42.tinypic.com/33mn1a0.jpg

here is the other half
http://i43.tinypic.com/2w6v5t0.jpg

What is Clemente?

perhaps I shall make that my desktop.

And it was nice to meet everyone on sat. too...everyone was too nice and made me feel as comfortable as it is possible for me to feel in such a situation. The booze helped too of course.

xpost

roberto clemente high school, on western and division.

there were these frequent passages in spanish -- and they weren't translated! they were just there, unapologetically, like "understand me or not, i don't care" i thought that was pretty bold.

totally. one of my friends was like "how did it make sense to you, you don't speak spanish" and i was like "how did it make sense to you, you weren't a d&d nerd in middle school."

yeah, see all of the geekery totally went over my head, but i enjoyed the political history/español

Oscar Wao wasn't great, but it certainly saved a long weekend stuck in Michigan with nothing else to do. It was the only remotely readable book I could find at the Rite-Aid near my wife's family.

I was really left underwhelmed by Freedomland, enough that it put me off checking out other Price books for awhile. Maybe time to re-evaluate that.

(xxxxx-post to join the book convo late)

i loooved Lush Life, and i bought a couple more Price books at a used shop but haven't been able to get excited about them (tl,dr).

i got a tiny bit bored during clockers, i'll admit it. i just sort of wanted it to be over. but then, when it was over, i was sad.

one of my friends was like "how did it make sense to you, you don't speak spanish" and i was like "how did it make sense to you, you weren't a d&d nerd in middle school."

I'm in big trouble...

Clemente Class of 77 has mad style.

those pics should be posted on 77

ok

not that they don't belong here b/c they do, but just that the denizens of the borad seem to enjoy those types of pics + anything "77"

But you have to be invited to that board, no? Or am I the only one around here who isn't? WHICH IS FINE I'M NOT UPSET ABOUT IT.

i don't know how i got invited but there i am

I don't know if it's still invite only or if you just have to get a mod to add you.

aaaand just like that I get called racist, nice

that was a record breaking whip-out of the race card.

i'll try to invite you jenny, if you give me your email address that you login to ilx with. i remember something about user invites not working anymore though.

hello ladies
http://www.menshairstyles.net/d/1044-3/mmenhairstyle23.jpg

why does that remind me of Slim Goodbody?

oh right, racism

it reminds me of glass tiger

they are possibly the worst band ever, next to hoobastank

"Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" seems like prime Hidden Cove material.

yeah but they suck

did i ever tell you guys about the time that my friend tried to convince me that glass tiger were "actually really good"? (this was 1993 or so) she made me a mix and put a bunch of songs by this band "tribal dreams" on there. when she asked me how i liked the mix, i was like "yeah, it was pretty good but what is this tribal dreams crap. it's worse than glass tiger" and she said "it...is glass tiger" and i haven't let her forget it ever since.

i pretty much just have an unfounded vendetta against glass tiger

ha i think about a year ago when 77 was still a secret board and people were trying to think of fun jokes to play, i suggested picking a random terrible band and trying to convince the ilm massive that they were underappreciated geniuses ... and the band that we ultimately picked was glass tiger. i don't think that project lasted more than a couple of hours though

lol glass tiger

Jordan it's okay. I am having enough difficulty keeping myself off ILX during work time as it is. I don't need access to a whole new secret board to tempt me away from writing about parking lots in Peoria. Because seriously, watching the reflection of the clouds in the building across the street is sufficient to tempt me away from writing about parking lots in Peoria.

Dexter is funny.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I have never heard of Glass Tiger. I thought you guys were talking about Glass Candy at first.

Glass Tiger is like Wham! if Wham! were shitty.

I like the name Glass Tiger, but I'd never heard of them before either. I really like Glass Candy.

Hi.

Glass Tiger's big single (the one Dan mentioned) had Bryan Adams as a "guest star" and all he did was sing "my heart would break" extremely shittily.

You know they're bad when they're Canadian and Eazy won't even stand up for them.

*I'm sure he would if pressed, but not without admitting that they do suck

I am on the borad, and the only thread I view/contribute to is the "nsfw's" (sic).

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZMBG6unwR8M/SFqSYjz7TyI/AAAAAAAAA1E/2P2xGcZ4QnA/s320/Glass+tiger_www.rocking-maniacs.blogspot.com.jpg

The one good thing I'll say about Glass Tiger is that this isn't bad design for an 80s pop record.

Last night, I saw one of my favorite Canadians. His band plays arenas in Canada and here plays the Beat Kitchen. It was me and Thax and a sea of Canadian expats.

Attention pet owners: This product works well

http://www.pledge.com/i/prod_fabric_sweeper.jpg

http://www.pledge.com/fabric-sweeper/

The only thing is that the instructions say to throw it away when it's full, which is crazy and awful b/c it's totally re-usable and it's a lot of fucking material and packaging AND if you have a hair factory like Brenda, it's full in 2 uses.

Fortunately, it's easy to break the seal on it and empty it.

I like how the dog on that package is guiltlessly watching the owner clean up.

And it seems that the pets' fur somehow makes the chair a darker shade of blue, despite being white and golden.

I don't know that I've knowingly heard Glass Tiger, but judging solely on that cover I would totally buy it I found it for a buck or two in a vinyl bargain bin.

i will try that for the couch. what i really need is a device that will suck up all the cat hair that's floating around in the air.

Amazing value alert: Dominick's stores have a sale on cereal. If you buy 5 or more, they're 99¢ each (though some are $1.99). That's a +- $5 box of cereal for 99¢! (I bought 10, and decided to go back for at least 5 more tonight.)

i like cereal

i love cereal.

now you can build a fortress out of it!

i love cereal, but i've chosen oatmeal

i used to love cereal, can't remember the last time i bought it though.

Are the Kashi cereals I revere included in this sale? I wonder if this sale is happening at my Dominicks, the one that hasn't been remodeled since 1987.

we have some honey bunches of oats (w/almonds) in the pantry right now, this is one of my fave cereals. also a big fan of wheat chex

i've been enjoying weetabix

cereal POV:

corn chex
multi-grain chex
cheerios
product 19
frosted mini-wheats

I think it's a certain brand. I bought Cinnamon Life, Plain Life, and Maple Brown Sugar Life. I'm going back for more Life and some Cap'n Crunch.

One time in NC I found a similar amazing sale and I had over 25 boxes of cereal in my house. The stuff doesn't go bad and it's one of my favorite foods ever.

It's delicious with milk plasma.

Are the Kashi cereals I revere included in this sale?

You were the one some time ago riffing on the Kashi "Best Friends" cereal box pictures, right? That shit was hilarious. I can't even look at that cereal without chuckling.

Number one cereal:

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.thatsfit.com/media/2009/01/quaker-100-natural-granola-with-oats,-honey,-and-raisens-amazoncom.jpg

I also like all the Chexes and all the Lifes, but ESPECIALLY cinnamon life.

xp - Jesse get me some cereal! I'll pay you back.

I like cereal but I'm trying to cut out simple sugars so none for me thx.

Hey, I have a problem. Back in December I crashed my car. Because of this, I had my windshield replaced. Fast forward to earlier this month, and I get a ticket because when my old windshield went, my city parking sticker went with it. Does anyone know/remember if the city keeps records of parking stickers, something like what license plate # goes with a corresponding sticker? I'm thinking I'll start asking at the currency exchange around the corner where I bought the sticker, but I'm kind of at a loss on what else to do... the total for ticket + new sticker would be $195! Love this town. :\

I'd call the City Clerk's office - http://www.chicityclerk.com/licenses/citystickers.html

Also, don't hold your breath getting out of paying for a new sticker. We had some crazy shit happen when we sold the car (bought a new sticker because we were getting a rain of parking tickets for it but then sold the car before we got the sticker in the mail) and after three people telling me I could get a refund for it, I sent the sticker in and got a letter back that basically said, "Fuck you, thanks for the money and the sticker."

Maple Life is pretty good. But Cinnamon is the best. I like Plain b/c I can Enhance it with various Ingredients as I see fit.

My favorite was whoever photoshopped Obama/Hillary onto the Good Friends box.

if you have the receipt (electronic is ok), it should have the number on it. if not, i think you're out of luck. *i think* (am not 100% sure)

i like those cereals as snacks, less as "meals". i also have a big love for crispix.

Enhance it with various Ingredients

Garlic Salt
Nutritional Yeast
Carpet Fresh

I Enhance it with

Nuts
Extracts (almond, vanilla)
Dried fruits
Cat hair*

*all of my food is Enhanced with cat hair

I'm really being an advocate of various sorts of consumerism today.

various = 2

Cereals I eat on the regular:

Pumpkin FlaxPlus Granola (Nature's Path) (#1 CEREAL)
Shredded Spoonfuls (Barbara's Bakery)
Banana Nut Clusters (Trader Joe's)
Raisin Bran Clusters (Trader Joe's)

Cereals I buy if I find myself at a "regular" supermarket:

Life (Quaker)
Great Grains with Raisins, Dates, and Pecans (Post)

(There are lots of other cereals at Jewel or Dominick's that I have enjoyed in the past, like Honey Bunches of Oats or Cracklin' Oat Bran or whatever, I am just not at one of those stores very often and so I haven't had them in a while.)

Thanks guys. I don't have any real illusions about getting out of paying for the sticker, but not paying the ticket would be nice. I have no idea where the reciept is, of course.

Raisins are unpleasant, especially when they harden in cold milk.

I like plain bran flakes.

Dates are a nice addition.

I like Nature's Path cereals, but since they emphasize large amounts of fiber the name grosses me out a little.