Chicago: Cold Enough To Snow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr6r6lbQXJo

I can't believe you have me killfiled, Eric. That's straight bullshit.

I hope this makes up for it.

You know me so well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Hey, Chicagoans, help us out:

Jeff and I are entertaining an old, dear internet friend who is visiting from Australia. She is cool and interesting and into art and music and surfing. We would like to take her to dinner. Where should we take her? My only criteria is that it can't be a place where we have to stand around for three hours waiting for a table.

I took a French couple to lunch at Five Guys earlier this year, and they loved it. Can't get that over there.

So maybe just Piece or Ranalli's or something straightforward and very good. Or Karyn's, the raw place.

NO KARYN'S.

Piece is a really good idea. She's staying in that part of town, too.

Outback Steakhouse.

urban belly aint far and is good and fast

I wonder if I should meet her. V02?

xp lol jmc

I already made the Outback joke last night to Jeff. Sheesh, John, do you have me killfiled or something?

note to self: 1 boob is free with 1

Oh, Jesse, do you know her from the old message board days?

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Urban Belly, too. Quick and not too pricey but doesn't feel overly casual. BYOB, too.

What do you people mean by "quick"? I don't want to eat fast, I just want to either be able to make a reservation or get a table in less than an hour.

weird, why are you guys naming restaurants? it's not like someone asked you to recommend restaurants or anything

Yes, Jennbun, I know her from FRM.

in this week's matt jones crossword puzzle (apologies in advance to jaymc if that's part of your weekly regimen):

17A - "Garnish that some upscale fries at Chicago restaurant mk are served with" - TRUFFLECREAM

Once you have a table, you place your order at the counter, and the food comes out relatively quickly. Depending on when you go, you may have to wait for a table, but I think the hype has died down, so I bet it won't be too bad. I've seen people eat there and then split, but I've also seen people linger at their tables with a bottle of wine.

Ha, Jordan, that's a weirdly specific clue. Although it doesn't beat "Game my dad refused to install on our computer in 1993 because it took up 40 megabytes."

I am still interested in restaurant recommendations, if anybody has any other ideas. Urban Belly doesn't quite seem to be what I'm looking for.

The Bristol? Might be a bit of a wait though.

I want to go to The Publican.

Jeff and I are going there for brunch the Sunday after Christmas. They serve scrapple!

OK.

I went to El Nandu last night and it was gooooooooood. Never had a problem w/ reservation or tables there.

yea but publican on friday is gonna be a wait dudes
nandu is good tho

We're going on Saturday, but Publican on Saturday is going to be a wait. So is Piece - I called to ask how tough it would be to get a table and the LOLed at me.

They're all gonna LOL @ u!

I guess in order to make a better recommendation, I would need more parameters. Neighborhood? Cuisine? Price level?

(I forget -- have you guys been to HB Home Bistro in your very own neighborhood?)

Neighborhood: doesn't matter, but near a train stop strongly preferred as our visitor is getting around via train
Cuisine: doesn't really matter, either, but something that Chicago is good at or something that is maybe not so common in Australia
Price Level: moderate
Atmosphere: causal/down to earth

El Nandu looks pretty good.
I don't think we've ever been to HB Home Bistro.

i always recommend gino's north but it is surely too far north for you. they have good thin crust pizza and are very old fashioned chicago bar type bar. on granville near the red line, though.

xp It's good. I would recommend you make a trip even if not with your Australian pal.

Mixteco Grill might be a good idea -- a Mexican restaurant that's upscale but moderately priced and easier to get into than a Bayless joint, two blocks from Montrose Brown Line stop.

(no affiliation with the other gino's that serves thick crust exclusively)

yes, mixteco is delicious but i always have a hard time getting a table on weekend nights.

they have grown, though.

Others:

Ras Dashen
Glenn's Diner
Wishbone
Hopleaf (I know it can be a zoo on weekends, but since so much of that is just in the bar upfront, I don't know what that realistically means in terms of wait time for a dinner table)

I took two out-of-town friends to dinner at Hopleaf over the summer and we waited several hours for a table. It was kind a disaster, but not really because we just sat in the bar upstairs and drank.

Ah, well scratch that, then.

I think good Mexican might be a great choice. Australia is about as far from MX as you can get.

And I don't think they have a big Mexican immigrant problem there so there is probably no good Mexican food there.

It seems very wrong to me that the Cook co. Circus Court's home page has ads for attorneys on it.

"mexican immigrant problem"

hahahahahahaha

i know he meant immigrant population but OMG

(no good mexican food is a big mexican immigrant problem btw)

i think he was making a "joke" (?)

He masks his real intentions, which is what makes him so alluring.

Yeah, I took it as a joke, too?

oh yes, a "joke"
i am only somewhat familiar with those

sorry. i am seriously slap happy because the last real class of the semester was today and i am looking forward to a little downtime/less scrambling.

So, it's officially official, I start work Monday.

Can I say: FUCKING FINALLY. I looked in my email history and my first interview was Oct. 1.

Wow. Congrats.

high 5 dan!

Woo!

Mixteco is a good idea. So is Gino's. Thought about the Hopleaf, but the reason why it's so crazy in the front room is people waiting for dinner tables so that's out unless I want to show up there at 3 pm to hold a table and drink for three hours.

Congratulations, Dan Dan the Working Man!

Go Dan!

Congrats Dan! That's awesome.

we need more jokes up in this place

k.

http://pornfortheblind.org/

Really wishing I hadn't read as far as the 22nd link down. o_0

Oh wow, I hadn't even seen that. Ew indeed.

wow

aaaaaaarrrrrhhhhhhgggghhhh

i saw elvisrape.com and thought that was bad

also, i counted

today's groupon is pretty good

http://www.groupon.com/deals/the-counter-3?utm_campaign=the-counter-3&;utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

I still need to use my Hannah's and 44th Ward Dinner Party groupons.

i saw elvisrape.com and thought that was bad

I saw elvisrape.com and thought that was hilarious. (I listened to it, though, and it's not really. It'd be funnier if it didn't link to anything, tbh.)

Ok I'm sorry you guys.

This still leaves us needing more jokes, I guess.

So, ok... an Orthodox Jew, a Maoist, and a butt plug walk into a bar...

... and boy did it hurt!

I just realized that my joke was about to include a walking butt plug. Truly, I am a mystery even to myself.

http://www.hitsusa.com/1-good-ones/2-girls-1-cup-book-report.jpg

Phallus? WHAT?

neither character gives voice to the greater internal struggle that surely must proceed the decision to consume one another's feces.

the internal struggle going on in my bowels...

i had a dream that jesse had made two facebook updates: one was talking about how he went to a restaurant and had pancakes served with caramel and cabbage, and the other saying that he was cooking cabbage

That is a very realistic dream.

I dreamed about Donkey Kong, a game I have not played in 20 years.

I had a dream with john in it a couple of nights ago, though the details are now very murky. At first he was an attendant at a parking garage, but later he helped me solve some sort of mystery.

I dreamed that capitalism had been defeated. People were playing in public fountains, driving without traffic rules, and going around naked. It was very hard to get my phone service turned on.

I'm not sure what the fall of capitalism has to do with any of those things, directly. I for one would vehemently support a public option for cell phone service.

Aaargh. I just had a nightmare from which I woke up bellowing "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!!"

tl;you won't care:

1. I was on a first date in an apartment occupied by my ex-bf and his new bf.

2. The guy was horrible.

3. He got mad at me b/c I rejected him.

4. He threw my ex-bf's cat across the parking lot.

Hey:
Music/comedy lineup for next week's 24-hour Letters to Santa at Second City:
Great chance to see great musicians in a very intimate venue, even if it means you lose some sleep:

Again. Again. Again.
24 hours of improvisation and music.
Second City ETC
1608 N Wells St Chicago, IL
All-ages
$15 for entire 24 hours
Tickets available at the door only.
Tuesday December 15 6pm through Wednesday December 16 6pm
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=146133034046&ref=ts
Auction items, raffle prizes, music and funny

Confirmed Special Guests
7pm Jeff Tweedy
10pm Robbie Fulks
Midnight Asssscat with Horatio Sanz & Matt Walsh with Chicago Guests
3am Flash Mob Marching Band
6am Bonnie Prince Billy
Noon Nina Nastasia
2pm The Mountain Goats
4:30pm The Blisters

I gave pho another shot last night (at Pho-Viet) and it was very tasty. The era of my pho-bia is over. It tasted good, but it was way too much work.

Ha...pho-bia. I'm going to use that. I have it, too.

white elephant gifts i received over the weekend: a bottle of japanese sweet potato whiskey, condoms, lube

you guys -- just get the number 47 at tank. there is nothing gross in it. just plain normal sliced beefs. it's so delicious and one takeout order is good for 2 meals!

^^^ OTM, cosign, A++++ pho-pinion, etc.

1. Mine just had beef slices (the menu had a mis-print and did not tell me that one of the words meant "soft tendon" but the waiter caught it before it was served and crisis was averted).

2. I doubt when most people tell me that anything is good for two meals

Oh, yeah, I definitely eat all the pho for one meal (actually I rarely can finish all of it, but I eat enough that it's not worth saving what's left), but everything Amanda said about Tank #47 is right on.

The broth was good. I tasted some sort of herb that I couldn't identify. It was kind of like cardamom.

I intend to go back for banh mi.

I ate well this weekend - Ethiopian on Saturday and Vietphopian on Sunday.

You know what's strange, when I went there, Demera's kitchen and management staff was all white, and their two servers were African-American. Not an African in sight.

Jordan, what does "white elephant" mean? (I thought "white elephants" were large applicances.)

white elephant is when people bring gag gifts. the way we've done it before is each person brings a gag gift wrapped. each person can open a wrapped present, or choose to "steal" a present that's already been opened from another person, then that person gets to choose whether to steal or open another unwrapped present. it's pretty fun.

I did not know that. Thank you.

things i have "won" in previous white elephant parties: a george w. bush "what me worry?" flask and a home funnel cake kit

other gifts at the party were a giant light-up jesus, somebody's glossy head shot from a former acting career, 10 ceramic owls, etc.

http://www.zooborns.com/.a/6a010535647bf3970b01287623b4d0970c-800wi

I wonder if baby elephants like to snuggle.

has this already made the rounds?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1205022/Koda-born-health-problems-doctors-worried-But-turns-hes-just-little-horse.html

I am not 100% sure but I think that horse made an appearance at a Fire game this past season.

http://1.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ku9qknVvMs1qzvqipo1_400.jpg

I love that horselet. I am certain it would cuddle.

is that half of a flying bear?

Oh shit! A bear!

I thought white elephant meant that you give away something you already have (or were gifted) and do not want for whatever reason.

I just ate a char dog at pippins w/ dan-- it's Xmas shopping day for me. Not enjoying it much aside from the fun lunch.

Also if you get an appetizer (I like tofu spring rolls) #47 can pretty easily be two meals.

i think that's part of it, we were told not to spend any money on the gifts. i brought a bag that included motivational "guide to living your dreams" book that my mom had given me and half-empty package of stale marshmallows.

the one we go to supposedly has a $5 limit for the gifts, and there are certainly people who just bring stuff from their houses, but there are other people who seem to spend more than $5 on things

Amanda, I still must disagree w/r/t how many meals pho might be. I have a great capacity. E.g., last night I ate a big order of hash browns and a chocolate donut from Dunkin Donuts, then had spring rolls as an appetizer, then ate my whole bowl of pho. Then had a snack of crackers. That was approximately 1 meal.

And my dining partner (T0mas) ate even more. He's a machine.

I have seen Jesse eat two dinners without even batting an eye. This is also the man who invented dipping cookies in cake (and french fries in mashed potatoes).

Oh now, I didn't invent those things, but I did make them famous.

(Jordan, you got my back here or what?)

I just took the pedway to Block 37 where there is a L'Occitain, a Sabon, and coming soon, a Sephora all right next to each other. I'm going to smell so good and be so well-moisturized and wear so much make up, holy shit guys.

L'Occitane, I mean. Sorry. God, I guess I am not ready to graduate from Bath and Body Works into the big leagues yet.

I'm sort of ashamed to admit that I only really know Sephora. I know the name L'Occitane from seeing billboards, but I don't know what they do. I'm assuming Sabon sells soap?

I just can't wait for the 4-story Billabong store on State St.

Oh fine! You are a champion eater.
I just came here to post about how excited I am to be facebook friends with Shirley Collins. SO excited!!

I would be so broke and so well made up if I were within walking distance of a sephora store.

yeah, this is my problem with getting indian takeout. i justify the $12 - 14 by thinking it'll be two meals, but inevitably stuff myself the first night and leave barely a snack's worth for the next day.

Yes. L'Occitane is set up like a Body Shop or Bath and Body Works in that there are shelving units against the walls displaying high-end personal care products divided by fragrance, but differs in that they smells are more subtle and everything is set up to look all tasteful and expensive. Their shea butter hand cream is pretty excellent, especially if your hands tend to look like those of a lobster fisherman as soon as the temperature drops below 40 degrees.

I have never been into Sabon, but I figured out what it was all about by looking across the way and also because, coincidentally, it is one of the handful of French words that I know, probably from reading translated usage instructions on shampoo bottles.

As soon as that Sephora opens up I'm going to burn my Ulta card in a Block 37 trash can.

Sabon is like a mellow Lush, and their products are pricey but wonderful. Each store has a little fountain, and they let you apply some scrub to your hands and then wash them in the fountain. There's another one on State just south of Division.

I am delighted that you are so familiar with Sabon, Eric. I also have an image of you taking a bird bath in their little fountain as though you did it all the time. "Oh, hey guys! I'm just taking a little bath here. Love the soap!"

Seriously, my hands have never been softer than they are after a scrub and a wash in that fountain, other than when I was a baby boy.

holy shit holy shit holy shit

http://abovethelaw.com/2009/12/texas_criminal_defense_firm_ca.php

They replaced the ones from the article with pics of their lawyers, but some interesting ones are still there.

Money Laundering

http://www.lindemanfrye.com/design/images/i-moneylaundering.jpg

Probation Violation

http://www.lindemanfrye.com/design/images/i-probationviolation.jpg

Findlaw doesn't seem to quite get how marketing works. I'm no expert, but they were being way too literal in their representations of the areas of practice (cocaine, robbery, and marijuana are still there as examples of this).

Well, and it's just so wrong for their reputation to imply that these photos vividly represent the cases they handled--as opposed, say, a split-screen photo of a guy eating at McDonald's and reading the paper while some other guy is putting stuff on his laptop, or laundering money, or delivering coke, etc.

LOL @ money laundering

They don't get how the minds of consumers of criminal defense legal services work, either, apparently. What accused rapist is going to hire a law firm that illustrates their rape defense practice with a picture of an crying woman in a disheveled robe? A clever and completely vile marketing person would illustrate that page with a picture like this:

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Health/Images/drunk-girls.jpg

You could find an even picture picture by GISing "drunk sluts" but I'm not finna do that at work.

Illustrate the family violence page with a picture of "gold digger" type with her harpy mouth hanging open as though caught in mid-shriek, shaking her well-manicured finger into the face of a meek, bespectacled man in a suit who is just trying to get out the door so he can do important, bread-earning type work.

RIGHT!

For child abuse, I was thinking of showing a sad dad being denied access to his kids, looking much put-upon, innocent, and earnest. Or a picture of a serious lawyer. You know?

xps to Eric and Jenny both

For any of these, a photo taken from the point of view of a police car, with a generic sketch of a black/Latino/whatever guy taped to the dashboard.

Photo of a kid wtih a drum set and a chocolate-smeared face, and a tired dad with a briefcase.

IS THIS YOU? CALL US.

http://www.maniacworld.com/most-annoying-mouse.jpg

Photo of a tired looking business man being hassled by an overly-made-up woman who totally passes for 18 AT LEAST.

xp LOLOLOL

The extremely questionable taste of all of our ideas are why it's best to illustrate lawyer websites with photos of the actual attorneys or stock photos of law-lookin' accouterments, like gavels and scales and piles of important looking books.

The picture for their fraud defense practice is the most literal of them all.

http://www.lindemanfrye.com/design/images/i-fraud.jpg

http://images-1.redbubble.net/img/art/size:large/view:main/2610402-3-who-me.jpg

lololol burglary and robbery:

http://www.lindemanfrye.com/design/images/i-burglaryrobbery.jpg

The chipmunk would be better!!!

I'm actually laughing at my desk still at "FRAUD."

"We need a graphic that represents 'fraud.'"
"How about this picture of the word 'fraud'?"
"GENIUS!"

Not only is it bizarrely literal, it doesn't fit the theme of bad boys bad boys.

what you guys aren't getting is that that is a picture of the word FREUD impersonating the word FRAUD as part of an elaborate ponzi scheme

My commute to work sucks. I need a new job so I can have a better commute.

Also I love that pic of the girls drinking. That's how Mattttt and I seem to end up posing for basically every pic of us where we've been drinking.

Cases in point:

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs124.snc1/5360_1206712253726_1406264199_589809_7083946_s.jpg

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v310/156/115/806755261/n806755261_3741301_9265.jpg

aren't you just taking the blue line downtown?

Yeah, but I'd been getting off at Grand and riding the bus over since the office is on (above, really) the intersection of Grand and Michigan. Of course, 90,000 other people take this route to work. Getting on and off the train at Grand during rush hour is nigh on impossible, and the bus is packed as hell too. I'm probably gonna start walking to and from C&L instead.

My other decent-ish option is bussing to/from the Diversey Brown line and walking over from Mart.

You should just move to the red line because moving is so easy.

is anyone else going to r0b buscem1's show at the lincoln tomorrow night? i kind of want to do pub quiz but i also want to see the show and i think they conflict

Yeah, we have tix to the RB show.

(Which is why I was bummed that pub quiz never came together a couple weeks ago, since I knew I'd be busy this week and last. Can we plan on the 15th?)

i think i will be able to on the 15th but won't be able to say 100% for sure until that afternoon unfortch

sorry, i know that's annoying. sarah and i are planning to go to the RB show too but we didn't buy tickets so i guess there's a chance it'll be sold out when we get there :/

blizzard tonight :/

Really? We're supposed to get about 4" in the city I think. I like snow, but I don't care for its being caked on the sidewalks.

Things happening on my Facebook:

Rodney B. became a fan of AXE [body spray]
I am on a prayer request list that is flooding my inbox

Chicago Trib weather says 40 mph winds tomorrow.

7-8" tonight, 10-12" by wednesday night is predicted

(in madison that is)

Yowzers all around.

wish i could just stay inside for the next couple days, but that's not really going to fly with work

:)

though i should really make the effort to go into the office soon

Oh, please, this is nothing like the weather in the UP.

http://www.doschicostees.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/p/e/peartee.jpg

lolsob

I want that t-shirt

Going down to 8º tomorrow night. This will cause my pear to shrink.

This is going to give my students many wonderful excuses to miss their final exams.

Actually this is nothing compared to the weather in Chicago every winter. You'd have thought ppl would figure that kind of shit out but oh well.

Why have sisu when you can be a victim?

People just like complaining.

Dan, we are not all as awesome and weatherproof as you, is all.

Or as defensive about it.

Dan is right, of course. I can do eight degrees. I didn't expect it so soon, but really is there ever a good time?

Oh you're plenty defensive alright. xp

"Weatherproof" is not a word I'd choose, given my struggles with summer heat. I am awesome, of course.

You think summers are hard here, you just need to sack up et cetera blah blah blah. It's just always the same trolling.

Let's line up in order of tolerance to extreme temperatures

look what these dumb yoopers tried to do

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/1207091mrx1.html

Jesse I find it hilarious that you respond to my trolling in the way you do, given the way you constantly troll your friends both online and IRL. It's a hell of a double standard.

Let's line up in order of our trolling skills.

Advice for Dan and Jesse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ewr4BSTr8Q

^^^<3

dan, why do you always have to make it about stamos

I can never forgive him for taking Rebecca Romijin away from me.

I don't have the sisu to withstand your Yooper-strength trolls.

xps and lols

http://www.lamebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/TheSharpestTools1.png

I just read that about 60 seconds ago!

who's on first?

Someone emailed this one to me earlier and it made me lol

http://www.lamebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/TechNOlogy3.png

That someone was ME!

It is official about me teaching that class, btw.

I was protecting your identity.

When do you start? Do you get to choose your texts and curriculum?

Mid-January, and no, which is actually quite fine with me since this will be my very first teaching job ever.

Eeeeee! I just got promoted...somewhat out of the blue. So excited!

congratulations to everyone

Oh, sorry, Jenny, I missed your post and was all me! me! me! CONGRATULATIONS on molding and warping young minds.

(It's continuing ed, so I am warping the minds of grown ups, most of whom have licenses to practice law in other countries.)

Congratulations, K8! What is your new job? President of the United States?

Congrats, K8e. This is turning out to be a pretty good month for some people!

it's a good month for me: i am done with all grad school assignments and am in my next-to-last class right now. i officially get my degree on dec. 21. doesn't really feel like i'm done yet but i basically am. crazy.

now i just need a lucrative and fulfilling library job

!!! Nick, that went by so fast! Congratulations on graduating! Now, yes, get one (1) lucrative and fulfilling library job.

yay graduation promotion teacheration!!! woop woop woop wooooooooooooooooooop

this danceree is packed with good news

And lacking in hateration.

Is warping old minds more or less difficult than warping young minds? Please take notes and report back. (new position is Director of Development)

sounds important!

i would like a job where i have an office. i guess i had an office at the national headache foundation but i think that was mainly so no one would have to listen to me talk to crazy people on the phone.

that's the only reason anyone has an office

I would like an office, too. I've had two jobs in my life that required a significant amount of intellectual concentration, which for me requires a certain amount of quiet, and both of them were in cubicles. I could get so much more done if I didn't have to listen to other people's phone calls and conversations, or if there was at least an office culture of being quiet when entering into other people's workspace. (Instead, it is more of an office culture of yelling and having loud, animated conversations five feet away from people who are clearly trying to read/write/thing.)

THINK not thing. There was somebody having a loud phone conversation when I was writing that! Seriously!

I don't have any good news, but I will revel in others'.

Jenny, with an office you might not make your signature hilarious typos. "Eyebrowns" would be a thing (I typed "think"!) of the past.

Our associate's office shares a poorly insulated wall with the personal injury firm next door. You can hear every single word and sound from there perfectly clearly.

You can also see into the other office if you press your head against the wall. Old charming lofts are awesome.

I'm having trouble visualizing that in a logical way that obeys the laws of physics as we understand them.

I had an interview yesterday for a position here that would ostensibly be a promotion in terms of my responsibilities, but I was told that there's a possibility that I would be making less money than I am now. ("Possibility" only because the guy I interviewed with doesn't know how much I'm making now.) I certainly don't expect a raise in this economy, but it sucks to think that I might have to lose income without even transferring employers.

I mean, I don't *have to*: I could stay right where I am. But the other job offers greater potential for advancement down the road, so I guess it would have to be kind of a bite-the-bullet thing. If I were offered the job at all, that is.

Congrats on the good news all around. Once you all start your new jobs and positions you wanna pass along that good luck?

There is a space where the walls meet. xp to Jenny

xp - that sounds maybe unacceptable, John.

Oh - you have to press your head against the wall to which the thin wall abuts.

I dunno, I like this company enough (and can't really imagine myself anywhere else) that I would be willing to do it. But is that foolish?

jvc, I will pass along the good luck now.

I would consider a (small) pay cut to do something that was less depressingly dead end than this job.

Thanks.

I don't think its a bad move if you see the potential for advancement via the other track, but I'd want to be very certain that advancement was going to be attainable within a reasonable amount of time.

If you don't even know for sure, there's no point in fretting about it now. Just wait and see and proceed with confidence!

i agree with that ^^^ (xpost to jon/via/chi's comment)

i have not actually had any "luck" per se so far, so i cannot pass on any luck but i certainly do wish it to everyone

That's good advice from jvc. If somebody offered me something in the realm of sexual harassment/discrimination or shit even wage and hour plaintiffs work or an assistance GC job for a union or certain non-profits for something between $50k and what I'm making now, I'd be out of here like my ass were on fire.

Actual conversation I had with a coworker (same position that I have but she's been here for a billion years):

Me: Hi, Coworker! How's it going?
CW: I'M CRABBY.
Me: Oh, okay.
CW: How are you?
Me: Fine, thanks!
CW: Well, that's nice for you.

it's weird that it would be taking a different position at the place you're already working for more work + less pay. doesn't seem right.

Maybe this is where John finds out he's been grievously underpaid for the past four years.

or overpaid!

That's what I'm saying. If you don't know for sure 100% that it will be less pay, why take that guy's word for it? Just proceed with caution and optimism if you want the job.

Like if he applies for the new job and the person is like, "This is probably a pay cut..." and then offers John like $10k more a year than what he was making and John realizes that if he had played his cards right, he could have bought and sold all of us ten times over.

Yeah, I don't know that advancement can be absolutely guaranteed, unless certain people retire or the department is restructured. But my interviewer did say that the position was seen as a "path toward" a higher position (which my current job is not). And in the short term, I like the idea of feeling more integrated with the company, having more of an editorial voice, and creating/producing content instead of just working with it.

something between $50k and what I'm making now,

Man, I know you're a J.D. and everything (which also means you've got law-school debt), but I'd consider it a miracle to make $40K at some point in my life.

Just proceed with caution and optimism if you want the job.

True true.

Yeah, I don't know that advancement can be absolutely guaranteed

Advancement within a particular time frame, that is.

Yeah, all things considered, I am comfortable with my salary requirements.

I have to hustle and work a p/t job on the side to make the miracle $40K if it makes you feel better. People reeeeally value community college teaching, they do.

not complaining! love my job!

for real, i do.

it is good to know that (some of) you guyz make as little money as I do!

I'm starting to feel like this guy:
http://op-for.com/mr%20burns.jpg

I have a strong urge to block out the sun.

And now I'm making Simpsons jokes on an internet message board... is this 1999??????

simpsons jokes are always pretty good, though I probably haven't burnt out on the show like some other people.

I think 1999 was the first year that I posted on an Internet message board. It was either this one or a Stereolab forum that appears now to have been taken over by pharmaceutical spam.

Omg, tabletalk! I used to read their forums at some point, most the book one though.

I made some posts on aol/prodigy during the mid 1990s, but luckily those have vanished into the internet ether. Unfortunately there are still some usenet posts lurking in the google archive that are kind of embarrassing (though I don't think there's anyway to link them with me, thank god).

That sounds like a challenge for you, jaymc...

Jeff and I met on an internet message board (glassdog.com) in 1999.

Maybe it was 1998.

That sounds like a challenge for you, jaymc...

Ha, I was busy trying to find my own posts from back then. Sadly, I think they're gone. I wonder what the earliest trace of me on the Internet is...

when i left wilmington, the weekly i worked for was just starting to get their website together. this was...get ready for it... 2003. if they had had their act together before then, i would have had many bylines and you could read all about what i thought of various local and touring bands. this would not be very interesting. i have a big box of clips somewhere, but no one will ever read them again, including me.

wait, was it 2002? it was 2002.

I had a few pieces, mostly creative nonfiction, published in 2001-02 on a webzine my friend Chris coedited. (It's defunct now but searchable through the Wayback Machine.) There was also the letter to Salon.com in October 2001 in which I theorized about Mulholland Drive, which is funny to me now because Kenan has a letter published on the very same page, two years before we met. Those are probably the earliest.

Jenny, it was 1998.

I have usenet posts from 1997, I think.

Congratulations and happy birthday to promotees, soon-to-be-graduates, and everyone else on the chilx thred.

I was posting on usenet in 1995.

xpost gnnnnah nerds

I had to wait for a ISP to be created where I live.

Lived.

Yeah, my folks working at the U meant we could dial in, it was a lucky break. michnet ftw

I was on Citadel message boards in Mpls in high school in the 80s.

I think jenny's messageboard was the first place I posted publically.

My nutjob flower boss created my first email/aol acct. For me in 1997. The name was embarassing and it was some time before he would let me change it. (The name was based on his drunken litanies about how one day I would be idolized (with his aid, of course).)

i was thinking about calling in sick and taking a "mental health" day this week to celebrate being done with school. but i need to come into the office this week, and it would look weird to call in sick one day and go into the office the next. so then i thought today i could just take the afternoon off. but it's so gross out! i don't know what i could do with my free afternoon that would be fun and worth it

i wish there was a movie out i was excited about seeing

Mr. Fox and Up In The Air and A Serious Man...

don't want to see up in the air. interested in the other two but not excited enough to go out in this shitty weather to see them. i want to see an awesome action thriller movie.

I'll see this, at least at the Brew 'n' View.
http://www.impawards.com/2009/posters/armored.jpg

What a weird "storm." It removed snow.

Our Quad Cities office is closed today, so something must have happened out there. I think there was an ice storm.

i want to see an awesome action thriller movie.

Have you seen Tell No One? We just watched that on Netflix On Demand the other day. It's a pretty good French thriller. Not much action in the shoot-em-up sense, but there is an awesome chase scene. Kind of like The Fugitive.

i think i did see that, yeah

maybe i will go to kuma's for lunch as my celebration

Nick, take a sick day! I don't think it would look weird at all. No one will argue with diarrhea.

eh i also don't get paid for sick days

and you KNOW i GOTS to get PAAAAAAIIIID

what?

use the word "diarrhea" and everyone will know you're faking your sick day.

Really? How about "IBS"?

how about "i don't feel well"
no one wants to know what sickness you have -- overdetailed excuses sound fake to me

I feel like I'm faking even when I'm actually sick.

how about "i don't feel well"
no one wants to know what sickness you have -- overdetailed excuses sound fake to me

That's my philosophy, too, but it's mostly because I don't like to lie so baldly.

I usually say that I feel like I'm coming down with something and want to take a day to sleep it off.

The last two times I faked sick to take off work I ended up actually being unwell, leading to such hilarious circumstances as sitting in a job interview with a fever and an ear infection.

What's funny is that I am pretty sure that sometimes my boss is lying to me. All he would have to say is "I'm sick" or even "I'm hung over," but he tells me a long story of multi-generational flu infections instead.

exactly
no one cares about your multigenerational flu -- spare us the bs

i'm pretty sure i have a special intolerance for lengthy excuses, though -- i hear them ALL THE TIME.

I'm always prepared with a list of symptoms b/c of years and years of mistrustful employers who would grill me for details.

ATTENTION MUSICIANS OR PEOPLE WHO KNOW MUSICIANS:

If any of you is or knows of someone who is a guitar player who would like to play some songs on an acoustic guitar for two hours at a wedding next... September, I think, please send me contact information and I will send it along to the bride to be.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm kumas. so good.

also no wait if you get there at noon on a wednesday when it's snowing and shitty out

what'd you get? what's their veggie burger like?

it seems like a fairly standard garden burger but cooked nice and crunchy on the outside; it's all about the toppings

i got:

Iron Maiden
Avocado, Cherry Peppers, Pepper Jack, Chipotle Mayo

Fuuuuuuuck I picked up the books for the class I'm teaching last night and promptly went home and had teacher stress dreams that included such hits as being unable to talk, being able to talk but none of the students being able to hear me, and violently turning a desk over in an attempt to make enough loud noise to get the class's attention only to have the desk land softly on its side with barely a sound.

You don't want me to start posting about my teacher stress dreams. They never go away. My mom said that hers lasted 30+ years.

Note: they will go away once you meet/get to know your students, but they're likely to return at the beginning of each semester. I have to take sleeping pills the week before classes start!

(ps i am sorry you are experiencing this, just know that it is normal)

I'm comforted by the normalcy. I'm no stranger to occupational stress dreams, but I didn't expect these to come on so strong or so fast!

I did get to meet a couple of my students, so that was cool.

"Best" occupational stress dream I ever had was when I was waiting tables and I dreamed that I was the ONLY person on staff, front or back of the house, got a table of ten none of whom spoke English and all of whom were ordering weird sodas that we did not serve (like Orange Fanta and Moxie and shit) and then the roof over their table started leaking all over them.

violently turning a desk over in an attempt to make enough loud noise to get the class's attention only to have the desk land softly on its side with barely a sound.

This is brilliant. Love it.

City parking meters freeze up

My hood got caught in the door of the train this morning! Luckily I was inside the train car.

LOL parking meters! That's awesome.

K8e and I experienced that first-hand last night. Who could have predicted such a thing?

Did you pull it out or have to wait till the next stop?

My "best" work anxiety dream occurred when I was working here and waiting tables a couple nights a week. In the dream I was here, in the office, doing my job, but I had to wait on tables 6 floors down on the sidewalk. There was the typical waiter nightmare shit where you're the only one working and you forget how the computer works, etc.

experienced frozen parking meters i mean

i just tried to watch "weeds." it kinda sucks huh.

You guys should try selling stuff on Amazon.com. It's easy, fun, and it makes a few extra bucks. And it helps clear out BS from the shelves.

i just made like 5 mean jokes about the above post and erased all of them. Happy holidays.

i just tried to watch "weeds." it kinda sucks huh.

This is what I found as well, yes.

i just tried to watch "weeds." it kinda sucks huh.

It is VERY uneven.

i only watched the first couple of episodes to be fair

How did you make mean jokes about selling stuff on Amazon? I want to hear them.

another way to save money is to make your own coffee at home instead of buying a $5 latte at the coffee shop

"Yo Amazon listing so nasty, it made Speed Stick slow down."

I like Weeds, but it can be wildly inconsistent in tone. The show clearly thinks of itself as a dark comedy, but it often ends up veering confusedly between broad satire and edgy melodrama.

― jaymc, Wednesday, November 4, 2009 7:56 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"shop your closet"

did you guys hear the story this morning about how gov quinn wouldn't allow wbez to visit juvenile detention facilities? and how there are rats everywhere? who needs baltimore when you have this.

The edgy melodrama doesn't really happen until later seasons, but even before then, the broad satire can be a little too broad -- in Season 1, especially, Heylia is a big ol' walking stereotype.

is heylia the woman who sells pot to mary-louise parker? all of the black characters seem pretty broadly stereotyped based on the two eps i watched. the white characters too.

Yeah, she's the sassy cornbread-making mmmmm-child black woman.

I don't buy $5 lattes! And I don't make coffee at home. I just drink office coffee.

Kevin Nealon is pretty much always good, tho.

I just drink office coffee.

But it's bitter and cold. Come to think of it, so are you.

Amanda, I did not see that.

Am I crazy or isn't there a FF song about office coffee? I can't find it.

Mary-Louise Parker is kind of impossibly likable, but that could just be me. But yeah, it is inconsistent, and not just from episode to episode. I don't think the show knows what it's about. Not that I do, either.

Plus, the theme song by Ethel Merman? Who thought that was a good idea?

re amazon mktplace -- i know -- no one buys $5 lattes every day -- that's why it's tired money saving advice, like "shop your closet"
i was just being a jerk, a bitter cold one.

it's not by ethel merman:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boxes

I tried watching Weeds and just got annoyed with all of the characters so yes, I agree that it kind of sucks. xp and YES the stereotypes of the minority characters is just awful. I think Jeff and I watched the first ep of the second season so there was the saucy mmmHMMMM black lady and some spicy Latinos and maybe an inscrutable Asian ninja, too.

I pulled the hood out of the door. Waiting until the next stop would have been pointless as the door opened on the other side anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFy3V4MHhUg

Thanks, Nick. Just assumed it was Merman. I have never heard of Malvina Reynolds before. And I never want to again.

http://www.zooborns.com/.a/6a010535647bf3970b0120a73c2508970b-pi

Dear Jordan,

I like that video. Is that Neil Peart?

giraffes are so totally awesome

guys in the cold light of my day off I'm wondering if nu-job is rly the right place for me :/

I think that's a normal thought to have in your first week on the job. Both of the jobs I've had in Chicago required a period of adjustment and soul-searching before I felt comfortable. It may still not be the right place for you, but I'd give it a little more time before you reach that conclusion.

Yeah, it's good I'm p/t to start. I'm definitely going to serve out the time I agreed to and see where it goes. There are things, though, that it's going to be tough to get past, especially if the $ isn't right.

it's like that everywhere, isn't it?

I like that video. Is that Neil Peart?

don't think so, it was just the first google image search result for "big drum set" (we made the video in like 5 min, obv.)

the song took a couple of hours though, i was really happy with the drum sound i got in my living room

it's like that everywhere, isn't it?

I'm not going to get into specifics here, but some places are more like that than others.

well it doesn't hurt get paid while yr looking for something else at least

to <- put this in the appropriate place

don't put it in the inappropriate place

Yeah, I know, I don't want to complain too much or overly second-guess the situation, but it's a nagging thing I wasn't able to shake with a good night's sleep.

Oh, I'll put it in the appropriate place alright.

Hello, hello. We're listening to Christmas music in the office. It's nice.

I just read through this whole thread. Some thoughts:
* I would like to upgrade to a cubicle. We have an open floor plan here, with the exception of the boss having his own office, so there's nowhere to have a quiet moment.
* Where did you end up taking internetfriend to dinner, Jenny?
* Dan, I get irritable going back to any job after just taking off one day. I can't imagine how hard it would be to get settled back in a job after being unemployed as long as you have.
* Congrats on the teaching gig, Jenny!
* Congrats on the surprise promotion, Katie!

Chicago: Cold enough to eat your best friend

Hello friends.

I don't know if you noticed, but it's rather chilly out.

<3 the sunshine howevs

i have made it my goal to not leave the apartment all day. i might have to take the trash out though and maybe scrape off the car

Hi, Kenan and Dan (and Nick!).

So I just went to the new mall Jenny was talking about before and it is going to be amazing. However, I made the mistake of letting a sales lady talk me into using a hand scrub/lotion combo without picking out my own scent, so now I smell like patchouli (or, according to my coworker, like bug spray). I then walked over to L'Occitane to buy some xmas presents. Then I did a quick breeze through Zara, which is much better organized than the one at Old Orchard.

I forgot to mention I got the bugspray smell on me at Sabon.

Hi Sarah.

Hey, that reminds me, I need present ideas for my sister. She is 28, 7 mos. pregnant, and I already picked out a lolsome onesie for the kiddo. I'm still on a budget too, btw.

Hi Sarah.

That reminds me, I really need a shower.

Dan, I'm a big fan of gift certificates. Is there a restaurant she really likes? You could get a card so she and her husband could have a romantic dinner out together before they have a baby on their hands. Does she get her nails done? Get her a certificate for the spa she likes.

If anyone is thinking "Gift certificate for Kenan!" right now, I prefer a massage. If possible from a seven foot German man named Gunther, who only knows the english words for "No mercy."

This is not a kink. I hurt all over, and I need serious work.

Dan, if you wanted to do one of those and it's too $$, you could get another family member or members to go in on something like that.

Kenan, I had a friend my freshman year of high school named Gustaf in my band class who was 6'4"ish and massive and would have probably given no mercy massages. I don't know if he did. I do know he knew all the cool ways to make himself and other people faint.

"cool"

Was he Vulcan?

Hmm... I don't think so, but he was into role playing games, if that helps paint a picture. His bff Desi was teeny tiny and would perch himself close to the ceiling and make weird faces and say he was a vampire.

Did anybody ever read "The Girl With the Silver Eyes" when they were kids? I ran across a reference to it and I totally remembered it and totally had to read it. So now I have it in my hands. Unfortunately this copy does not have the cover I had when I was a kid, so it is not the same. It is about a girl with telekinesis and it looks awful.

I don't think so, but I was a big fan of Lois Duncan's The Gift of Magic, about a girl with ESP.

I didn't read that. I basically read every book about communicating with your cat or cat breeds or fictional books with talking cats in them. I was disappointed once to discover the book I had checked out from the school library about a mysterious cat was one my mom had donated from my own collection.

I also wrote my own story about a family of kittens which I mailed to Disney in hopes of it becoming a cartoon movie along the lines of Aristocats (called Cat Tails).

Your mom stole your books and gave them to the library?!

I don't think I read many books about cats when I was young, which is, I think, an indication of a deprived childhood. Maybe I should read them now.

xp

The most exciting fun fact I remember learning from a cat communication book was that sometimes they purr when they are sick or hurt and need attention. It doesn't always mean they are happy!

Who knows. My mom probably asked me to pick some books out to donate and I had just forgotten about it. Mostly I was sad that I'd already read it.

There is a whole sub-sub-genre of cozy cat mysteries, as detailed here: http://www.cozy-mystery.com/blog/kittens-cats-and-cozies-cat-mysteries.html. I've been meaning to check one out, as patrons here love them.

Thanks Sarah!

Yes, I read The Girl With the Silver Eyes. I was obsessed with pyro and telekenisis (and ghosts, ESP, Satanism, etc.) when I was a kid.

lol.... One of our divorce clients, an older man, is just learning how to use email, and every time he replies to my emails to him, no message appears. Turns out he has been writing his replies on very bottom, under the original email. Lol.

lol i said lol twice

lol

You guyz it's not that funny

rofl, puking.

rolling on fuh loor

unable to stop soiling the walls, in many various ways which I won't describe

it's ok, I laid out some plastic beforehand

that reminds me. have you guys seen the video of the body builder whose shoulder springs a leak? i'm going to go find it and post it here.

NOOOO!!!

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Yeah, kinda hafta agree here

http://www.alexregnier.com/provincial092.html

Look at the guy on the left.

It's all fun and games until someone springs a leak

did you watch it?

I watched it. I'm not quite sure what he's leaking??

Something called synthol. Some idiots inject it to enhance their physiques. Do a GIS for synthol and you will see a great many things and wonder why people would do such things.

I did not watch it, because I watched this instead:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/4090/saturday-night-live-weekend-update-all-drug-olympics

Hey Jordan, thought of you when I listened to this interview with Iggy Pop where he talks about the New Orleans influence on his music.

People I just bought a dozen tamales from my tamale connection here at work. They will be delivered hot and fresh tomorrow afternoon.

I HAVE A TAMALE CONNECTION HERE AT WORK. I love the USA.

http://paradefloats.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/usa-letter-set.jpg

frigid today, chile tamale

I believe it goes "Cold today, hot tamale," you fish owl.

but mine is funnier

Chilly (chile) today, hot tamale.

OH SHIT you're right.

You're both so wrong. I laugh and andce before you. Ha ha ho ho jiggle jiggle.

laugh and dance

Wow, that was a lot of transposed letters even for me. Time for a sandwich.

Clap your hands and sing, and louder sing for every tatter in your mortal dress.

Crap your pants and sing, and louder sing for ever turd in your mortal pants.

hey guys, we finally booked a gr33n mill gig again

oh my god lol

er xpost

but I'm very happy about the GM gig. When is it?

congrats, jordo

thx for the excelsior, jenny

i wish i had a job where people just excelsiored me all day

Jenny, are you taking your folks to see the profanity-laced American Buffalo or something else?

Retweeting is the new Excelsior.

i think it's going to be friday feb. 12th. usually we would do the 13th too, but i think that's up in the air (we might actually be playing in austin, tx that night, oddly enough).

Eric, no. I told my mom about some of the profanity and she said that her new year's resolution is to curse less so she didn't want to go. I'm going to take my grandmother to Macy's instead.

American Buffalo
Walter ‘Teach’ Cole
(walks around the store a bit in silence): Fuckin’ Ruthie, fuckin’ Ruthie, fuckin’ Ruthie, fuckin’ Ruthie, fuckin’ Ruthie.
Fuckin’ Ruthie . . .
I come into the Riverside to get a cup of coffee, right? I sit down at the table Grace and Ruthie.
I’m gonna order just a cup of coffee.
So Grace and Ruthie’s having breakfast, and they’re done. Plates . . . crusts of stuff all over . . . So we’ll shoot the shit.
Talk about the game . . .
. . . so on. Down I sit. “Hi, hi.” I take a piece of toast off Grace’s plate . . .
. . . and she goes “Help yourself.”
Help myself.
I should help myself to half a piece of toast it’s four slices for a quarter. I should have a nickel every time we’re over at the game, I pop for coffee . . . cigarettes . . . a sweet roll, never say word.
Bobby, see who wants what. Huh? A fucking roast-beef sandwich. [To Bob] Am I right? [To Don] Ahh, shit. We’re sitting down, how many times do I pick up the check? But (No!) because I never go and make a big thing out of it–it’s no big thing–and flaunt like “This one’s on me” like some bust-out asshole, but I naturally assume that I’m with friends, and don’t forget who’s who when someone gets behind a half a yard or needs some help with (huh?) some fucking rent, or drops enormous piles of money at the track, or someone’s sick or something . . .
Only (and I tell you this, Don). Only, and I’m not, I don’t think, casting anything on anyone: from the mouth of a Southern bulldyke asshole ingrate of a vicious nowhere cunt can this trash come. [To Bob] And I take nothing back, and I know you’re close with them.
Yes.
Walter ‘Teach’ Cole – American Buffalo 2
I have always treated everybody more than fair, and never gone around complaining. Is this true, Don?
Someone is against me, that’s their problem . . . I can look out for myself, and I don’t got to fuck around behind somebody’s back, I don’t like the way they’re treating me. (Or pray some brick safe falls and hits them on the head, they’re walking down the street.)
But to have that shithead turn, in one breath, every fucking sweet roll that I ever ate with them into ground glass (I’m wondering were they eating it and thinking “This guy’s an idiot to blow a fucking quarter on his friends” . . .)
. . . this hurts me, Don.
This hurts me in a way I don’t know what the fuck to do.
You’re fuckin’ A I’m upset. I am very upset, Don.
I would like to have their problems.
Then let them talk about it, then. No, I am sorry, Don, I cannot brush this off. They treat me like an asshole, they are an asshole. (Pause) The only way to teach these people is to kill them.
I’m not hungry.
(Fuckin’ joint . . .)
(They harbor assholes in there . . .)
No.
Black.
[to Bob] You got to eat (And this is what I’m saying at The Riverside.)
I don’t want an English muffin.
I don’t want anything.
[to Bob] Tell ‘em to give you an order of bacon, real dry, real crisp.
And tell the broad if it’s for me she’ll give you more.
No.
I never eat cantaloupe.
It gives me the runs.
And tell him he shouldn’t say anything to Ruthie.
No? No, you’re right. I’m sorry Bob.
I’m upset.
Thank you.
What the fuck do I care . . .
This has nothing to do with that.
Last night? You were there, Don. How’d you do?
Mmm.
Cunt had to win two hundred dollars.
She is not a good car player, Don. She is a mooch and she is a locksmith and she plays like a woman. Fletcher’s a card player, I’ll give him that. But Ruthie . . . I mean, you see how she fucking plays . . .
And always with that cunt on her shoulder.
Yes.
Then let her be her partner, then. (You see what I’m talking about?) Everyone, they’re sitting at the table and then Grace is going to walk around . . . fetch an ashtray . . . go for coffee . . . this . . . and everybody’s all they aren’t going to hide their cards, and they’re going to make a show how they don’t over, and like that. I don’t give a shit. I say the broad’s her fucking partner, and she walks in back of me I’m going to hide my hand.
And I say anybody doesn’t’s out of their mind. We’re talking about money for chrissake, and a wonderful thing, and I am all for it. I have never said different, and you know me on this point. Okay. But let’s just keep it separate huh, let’s just keep the two apart, and maybe we can deal with each other like some human beings. This is all I’m saying, Don. I know you got a soft spot in your heart for Ruthie . . .
I know you like the broad and Grace and, Bob, I know he likes ‘em too.
And I like ‘em too. (I know, I know.) I’m not averse to this. I’m not averse to sitting down. (I know we will sit down.) These things happen, I’m not saying that they don’t . . . and yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I lost a bundle at the game and blah blah blah.
But all I ever ask (and I would say this to her face) is only she remembers who is who and not to go around with her or Gracie either with this attitude. “The Past is Past, and this is Now, and so Fuck You.”
You see?
So what’s new?

Hey, I just got a surprise promotion, too! Although it sort of throws a wrench into this other position I'm entertaining, tbh.

Nice going!

congratulations!

Raise up.

congrats jaymc!

I wish I had some thing else to say.

when it gets this cold, the lock for the driver's-side door of our car freezes up internally and i have to get in through the passenger side and climb across. i don't know why it's always the driver's-side lock that freezes.

I think you posted the same thing last time it got this cold.

John! Congratulations! Once we get Kenan and jvc steady work, then I will believe what they keep saying on the radio about the immanent end of the recession.

Jesse, what can I say? I'm a sucker for Shit Yeats.

You should do scatalogical interpretations of Yeats for your advanced project.

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to go poop?

The side door on our garage is constantly freezing shut, well mainly the lock part. I wasted two different types of de-icers on it to no avail, but using a hairdryer worked in like 45 seconds.

I got three more e-mails from companies enthusing about my resume but saying they are unable to hire. I'm not sure if the enthusiasm about my resume and portfolio is making me feel better or worse yet.

Might be worth keeping a list of these enthusers and checking in with them in a few months if you're still looking. Or even doing some research on the companies and seeing if you can find an inside person that you can contact.

Not that you asked. Sorry.

No, its okay. Advice is always helpful in these situations. I've been keeping a pretty detailed excel doc with all this stuff and denoting those firms that seem enthused. I know its certainly better than no response at all, but theres that small part thats like "WELL IF YOU LIKE ME GIVE ME ONE JOB".

Yeah, totally. :(

I was looking at the job postings at the state yesterday and there are quite a few. Nothing in your wheelhouse, jvc, that I could tell (there are weird titles for certain jobs. Like my job title "t3chnical @dvisor II(a)" or something like that) but for anyone else looking for something more general, might be worth a gander.

Did I bitch about this last year? Well, I'm finna bitch about it again.

It costs $150/year to be a licensed attorney in this state. Attorneys get a notice in the mail with a bright red card that says "DO THIS ON LINE" and then all over the paper form that you fill out, it says "DO THIS ON LINE PLEASE OMG PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE DO THIS ON LINE." And then I go to register on line and get to the part where I have to pay, and they only take checks.

...

Jenny, I ran into that too at my work. Ridic. Out of spite I did not do it online.

Congrats jmc. Can you tell us what the promotion entails?

Nick, have you tried de-icer spray?

I'm totally going to do it on paper out of spite, too!

You should include a letter saying that they need to get with it and start accepting plastic.

you should also call them bozos

I love how the lawyers I work for got through law school and the bar and have successfully handled many extremely complicated cases, but they turn into helpless idiots when faces with this form. So they give it to me and then I call them up and read the questions to them ("Have you done any pro bono work this year?")

It's not a particularly difficult form to fill out. If you do it all line, the form retains all of the info that you put in last year even.

is this one of the only top 40 hits to reference roger ebert?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPyUTAESYf0

this song gives me the creeps for some reason and has been stuck in my head for the duration of my latest migraine.

Admittedly it is my job to handle administrative stuff like this, but it doesn't make sense for me to basically act as a reader/interviewer. xp

So put your hands down my pants
And I bet you'll feel nuts
Yes I'm Siskel, yes I'm Ebert
And you're getting two thumbs up
-Bloodhound Gang, "The Bad Touch"

disgusting

I know, sorry to keep it hanging there on the page, but it was what came to mind as the other Top 40 Ebert reference. It will scroll up soon enough.

Atonement.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1033538769449_2003/12/13/koala05.jpg

fuzzy wuzzy was a bear

This is similar to Jenny's recent query: I have a friend from out of town who wants to go to dinner either tonight or tomorrow night. He has suggested Lula or Frontera. If we attempt this, will clusterfuck ensue? If so, where else could we go???

Congrats jmc. Can you tell us what the promotion entails?

I've officially been promoted to a supervisor in my department. I've already been doing some supervisory work over the last couple of years, but it's now reflected in my job title, and it means that I'll probably start doing more now. Also, I'm now a salaried employee for the first time in my life, and I get a 4% raise.

If we attempt this, will clusterfuck ensue?

Apparently you can get a reservation at Frontera if you call at 8:30 AM on the day of.

Hell yeah! John you totally deserve a raise. Judging from your previous comments and from what I know about your skillz and smarts, you were grievously underpaid.

Here is my recommendation for dinner at Frontera: either send an advance scout or bring your whole party there at about 4:50. Put your name on the list, but most importantly, secure seats at the bar. Order delicious cocktails and relax while you wait for your table. You'll probably get seated at 5:30, 5:45.

Something else to consider - There's a Twitter feed that gives wait times for popular eateries and on Wednesday night when it was freezing as cold with ridiculous precipitation, there was no wait at Kuma's or Hot Doug's or a couple other popular places but a 90 minute wait at Frontera. When the weather is good, you could be looking at a three hour wait, which I would actually be willing to endure if I had a seat at the bar and some chips and salsa.

never in 100 years would i be willing to wait 3 hours for a table. good lord!
that's because i generally have trouble sitting still, but man -- 3 hours?!

go to mixteco instead of frontera

ps -- yaaay john!!!

http://www.rodeo.net/uploads/images/38804.gif

I had a good dinner at Machu Picchu (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). I would recommend it.

I don't know that I could wait 3 hours. Pretty sure not.

Update: No, I could not.

We waited about 75 minutes for a table at Hopleaf last night. It was only supposed to be a 45-minute wait, but apparently several parties were paying their bills and then just not leaving the table. The hostess speculated that people just didn't want to go back outside. Anyway, it wasn't that bad because we got a table at the bar upstairs while we waited.

Thanks for the info, I think I will forgo Frontera. Maybe Lula will be good.

John is now THE MAN.

you could go to other-lula (blackwind? blackbird? something like that?)

Nightwood

Blackbird is the other-Avec. (Or rather Avec is the other-Blackbird.)

Nightwind,
Nightbird -- upcoming in 2010

Birdwood

WHATEVER

There is going to be a new Chinese restaurant in Greektown. It's called Chinese Yum Yum. I am going to go there to fill tum-tum with num-num. Then I'm going to tell Jenny all about it.

4:50 is the way to go for frontera.

I am working until 5:15 today and tomorrow so 4:50 will not work in this particular instance. Though I am determined to experience the wonder that is bayless, so at some point I will give it a go.

I am determined to taste bayless

Hey what are y'all doing for New Year's Rockin' Eve?

I'm vaguely thinking about going to see the Jesus Lizard, but I don't think I will because, though I want to see the Jesus Lizard, I do no want to see them on NYE.

I don't have plans.

I ask b/c we were thinking we might have people over again. But we're not sure, so I wanted to put the ol' feelers out there.

I'm open.

We're taking my mom, dad, and grandmother to David Burke's. Or, hopefully, they are taking us. Either way, mmmmmmmm steak.

For Yoopers on the go:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3337/3613795045_47b0d7a8c0.jpg

"Slenderize exactly where you want"

That is awesome, Jenny. Truly. I am in awe.

The kitten from Jesse is only awwwwwwww some.

Also, congratulations, John!

Thankee.

i don't think sarah and i have NYE plans, leaving us agreeable to going to j & k's house again. i was vaguely interested in going to see jens lekman at the EB that night but i'd rather hang with friends

is it just me or does the guy on this page kind of look like the swarthy version of jordan?

http://joblist.ala.org/

oh nevermind apparently it's a different person each time, and i can't figure out how to just link to that one picture

and by swarthy i meant "foreign" obviously

http://joblist.ala.org/images/job-seekers/08.png?rand=130

this was probably an all-around bad idea

lol

i saw swarthier jordan at the green m1ll once.

jordan - is resident evil 5 worth playing?

i enjoyed re4

I saw a dude in a movie once and he looked like Jordan. He was playing some hot chick's bf.

about once every couple months or so I get a text from someone saying they just saw somebody who looks exactly like me. Apparently the world is riddled with aksance johnson doppelgangers.

Something terrible is happeneing on macys 7th floor.

i only played it in one marathon session at cam's place. it seemed...not as good. less atmospheric, more shooty shooty. the 2-player co-op element is pretty essential too, i don't how fun it would be to play it with the a.i.

cam likes it though, he's trying to convince me to get it so we can play online.

have you played braid? i just finished it last night, pretty awesome little puzzle game.

i think assassin's creed 2 is going to be my next big game.

The cieling above the noodle shop is gushing water. The ceiling gave way. Firemen are here. We are all going to die up here.

rip jesse

Oooooh rheyve got axes.

Haha right below the problem area is the towel dept.

Thank goodness. Crisis averted!

In elevator w the firemen. They are sexy and they smell like smoke.

Be sure to grab a towel on the way down, then...

Gross.

i'm interested in assassin's creed 2 as well but i put it on my amazon list with some other games so now i have to wait a couple of weeks before i buy any of those games ... lame

I went to Sabon and their salt scrub blew me away. Usually they're really greasy and heavy, but this one was juuust right and it left my hands feeling brand new. But they're $$$.

WTG JMC

I have a Bayless-restaurant gift card that I got for Xmas last year that I haven't used and am afraid is going to expire. Anyone want to go to Topolobampo or Xoco? I am not rly interested in Frontera.

I liked Resident Evil 5 a lot.

Why not? Out of the four Bayless resturants, Frontera is my favorite by far.

Four?

Xoco
Topolo
Frontera
Frontera Fresco

Which should be Fresca.

Huh, I had no idea Frontera Fresco existed.

I get lunch there all the time. At least once a week.

I went there for lunch today, and I believe it is where Jesse was sitting when the roof collapsed on him, leading to a Penthouse Forum moment in the elevator with all the smoky fire fighters.

The tacos are fantastic. I've had every kind.

....I never thought I'd write a letter like this....

Yes, that is where I was.

I'm not very into Frontera because it's taqueria food afaik, and that stuff is all around me. I don't eat out a whole lot so I'd rather have something a little more adventurous, which is why I'm mainly interested in Topolobampo over Xoco, too.

It's not taqueria food.

For example: http://www.rickbayless.com/menu/item?id=26848

http://www.rickbayless.com/menu/item?id=26846

I mean, Topolobompo is amazing and you should definitely go there if you want a fancy, fine dining experience, but don't write off Frontera Grill because you think it's a taqueria because that would be like me writing off, I don't know, Kuma's because I can get a burger at Pinky's Grill in the basement of this building.

I have to stop writing about food so I can finish writing about injured ppl so I can go home and eat tamales.

What I mean by "it's taqueria food" is that a lot of it is stuff like you posted, and tacos at $15 a plate, and if I'm going to be dropping money I want something that's not a fancified version of what I can get simply around here. It's kind of like the reverse of the Hot Doug's phenomenon.

xpost see? Kuma's etc... I just don't want that with Mexican food I guess.

Like my favorite dish ever is adobado pork and while I would definitely eat and probably like the pork entree you posted, it's just not what I'm looking for in this instance.

Serious question: what taqueria serves a duck dish like the one I linked? Because I would be totally into eating that at a cheaper price point.

I've eaten at Frontera and I don't think it's a fancified version of stuff you could get at a taqueria. What it is though is delicioso. I think that was the duck I had - first link.

xps oh - yes, that too

w/r/t the duck.

And the drinks were pretty fantasticos tambien.

And I saw Rick Bayless, and he was PISSED.

I don't know what taqueria serves duck. I didn't realize this was going to be a line-by-line dissection of the menu.

ok np

You could probably sub out duck for chicken and find something very very similar.

It's one thing to say that Frontera is not what you're looking for, it's another to suggest that it's overpriced taqueria food, which it decidedly is not.

1. Subbing duck for chicken makes it utterly not comparable.

2. No, it wouldn't be very similar at all b/c of the seasonins and what not.

I guess you're the Mexican in this argument.

I (and Jenny and Jeff) are the voice of experience.

I don't care what you are, I've heard about the place from plenty of other people besides you guys, and I've decided that I am not going to blow this gift certificate on food that I have a cookbook (by Rick Bayless) full of recipes for, and which despite your contentions is in fact mostly updated, spun, tweaked, upper-middle-class versions of dishes available up and down my neighborhood and many others in Chicago.

Jesus fucking Christ and to think I actually kind of missed reading the thread today while I was at work. So long.

I can't deny being an RB fangirl, which would color my perception. I've hit every Mexican restaurant in my area and while some are really good, they don't compare. But Dan you live in a more taqueria heavy hood than I do, and likely have more basis to make such a statement plus no fangirl baggage, so my question was genuine, not trying to lawyer you or anything.

xp uh never mind

:( sorry

let's all go to dinner at frontera, my traet

actually I don't know how much this card is for so maybe not

U better check b4 going to Topolo. That place is $$$$.

But totally worth it and def different.

Yo, right on the $$$$. It was the most expensive meal I ever had to pay for.

^^^kind of what I figured, so I was going to use the card to soften the blow

Dan, I'm sorry we butt heads sometimes.

You should butt butts sometime.

So we did actually end up going to Frontera! It was an 1.5 hour wait, but we just walked down to Christkindlmart and got some mulled wine/ pastries.

Frontera was awesome obviously. And I didn't have to pay either! (actually my entree was just good, but the apps and the dessert were fucking mindblowing).

We rolled up to the valet parking in a chevy tahoe, it was pretty sweet.

What did you get?

Got swordfish w/ peanut mole sauce. Not really sure what the apps were, got the ice cream for dessert which was fucking boss.

Maybe I should have ordered the duck.

You guys I just don't know which way to turn any more. I've tried everything and it always turns out wrong. Why won't my hummus be smooth? :(

I tried the recipe Amanda provided (by Cook's Illustrated) but it's still grainy. The recipe recommended dried chick peas, but they never got very soft despite a great deal of soaking. Perhaps I need supervision.

I bet a meat grinder would be just the ticket.

Try the Cook's Illustrated recipe and use canned chick peas instead.

Jeff and I saw a lot of people who were headed to this debacle when we were out and about this morning: http://www.festaparties.com/

Hummus seems like one of those things that will always be eaiser to buy. I dont think I could make it any better.

1. It's much, much cheaper to make a huge batch and then freeze it.

2. I like having a ton of it on hand.

3. I will not admit to defeat at this point.

Jenny, I might try canned. The thing is, previous attempts with canned resulted in graininess. My "recipe" is pretty much like CI's.

I think a grinder or baby food mill is key to making a fine paste. Or a nut grinder (like for homemade peanut butter).

1 lb chick peas: $1
some olive oil,lemon juice, tahini: $2?

yield: at least 5 tubs worth.

Seems like a lot of the most smooth hummuses I have had included lots of tahini.

http://www.aprilwinchell.com/images/wellwellwell.jpg

You look at prices when you buy things????

I kind of skimp on the tahini. And probably overdo it on the olive oil* b/c that's what I like flavor-wise.

*Damn you Rachel Ray for making me associate the very handy initialism EVOO with you.

Can't you use a powdered mix????

Four question marks is the new three.

http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/restaurants-bars/81167/100-best-dishes-and-drinks-of-2009

There are so many of these restaurants that I have never even heard of.

I actually have used the powered mix from Whole Foods and it was pretty OK.

Also I had a revelation: I should grind up the dry chick peas and THEN soak the powder!

The hummus is finally done. It completely filled my largest mixing bowl. This always happens - my cooking gets too big.

I liked the hummus that that dude made at the Greensboro Farmer's Market.

Jesse, how did you like the Bad Lieutenant?

speaking of restaurants, we bought this today.

So I missed the "Hot Pants" before, but if I had not, I would have commented that my uncle Paul invented something not entirely unlike that. It's a full-body inflatable suit, with other various accoutrements, designed to keep you from freezing to death in extreme situations. Like, say, stuck on the side of a mountain.

It's time to play my favorite game: Who Shit His or Her Pants on the Broadway Bus?

Hint: not me although at this point, why not?

Bad Lt. was magnificent. I ROFLed. And I never want to be around people doing drugs again.

jesse, my god --how much hummus can one person eat? one can of garbanzos makes enough hummus for 2 ppl to eat before it gets moldy. just don't skimp on the tahini. that's what makes it smooth. are you using a food processor? i made hummus for my end-of-semester student parties and they all said it tasted like peanut butter. (they had never eaten it before)
weird.

I am making huge batches to freeze (this works well) for lunches and snacks.

I think your notion of portions skews quite small. 1 large can's worth of hummus would last me alone less than a week.

I need to to adjust my tahini content I think.

What. The. Fuck.

3r|k J0hns0n Mamas' ankles have gone into hiding...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=370198&id=1638207848
about an hour ago via Facebook Mobile · Comment · LikeUnlike · Share

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs097.snc3/16436_1144832514502_1638207848_370198_6778158_n.jpg

Pic of his mama's ankles.

Sometimes ankles swell up. It is a fact of life.

I'm in SFO! let's go driving.

WTF? Hasn't Straw Dogs ever been released on DVD? I'd never seen that and decided to go add it to my Netflix queue, but it is only available to "Save", saying "DVD release unknown".

Okay, apparently its just not currently in print. The Criterion version and one other are only available from Amazon through second-market sellers. Bummer.

I know it happens but why is her son posting this shit.

Jeff don't bend over.

Because the homosexuals in SFO will try to put their penises inside of you.

I'm in Palo Alto. I think I'm safe here.

why is her son posting this shit

Oh. I don't know, because he's a jerk?

i find her toenails more troubling, honestly

I found the secret to getting to sleep on a Sunday night when intense and horrific work stress looms on Monday morning: two cups of chamomile tea and Tylenol PM and and two hours of lying quietly on the couch watching a movie in the dark. I only woke up twice with the Work Panicks!

The dark movie watching happens before bed, while drinking the tea. Also I probably should have watched something a little less action-y than RISE OF THE LYCANS, but it was super dark, as in the opposite of bright, and I didn't really care about the fucking Lycans, so it was good for zoning.

I am finding other humans more upsetting then usual this morning. No names. :/

Last night (afternoon really) we went to this movie at the siskel and it was 80% awesome and 20% wtf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-32V9bgkY-4

Eno, Popol Vuh, and Burzum on the soundtrack. The Popol Vuh made it seem really Herzogy. It was a little weird to recognize music from another movie's soundtrack, but whatev. I guess I pretty much loved this movie because I'm still thinking about it.

Oh, it is about the Norse discovery of North America. Viking men lost in the woods.

Jenny, I get the work panics like you can't believe, mainly because I don't have work on Monday morning.

I found this weekend that diphenhydramine, generally the active ingredient in anything labelled "PM", is almost as unpleasant for me as anything with pseudoephedrine in it, though not quite. I sleep badly on "PM" medicines, but at least I do sleep... things like Theraflu would keep me up all night bug-eyed and angry, like I was on the dirtiest acid of all time. (Brown?) The "PM" just makes me sleep like shit and wake up feeling like shit and take it out on whoever is nearest to me. (I'm sorry, baby.) But at least I don't feel like I got ripped off for acid the night before. It's angry, but it's not as weird. So that's... something.

I just have to not take cold medicines at all ever. Seriously.

kenan listen to this and you will feel better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LffbuZCPEnE&feature=PlayList&p=50E906554A5DA703&index=0&playnext=1

When I had a migraine last week I listened to this and it really helped

http://www.enricobassi.it/coeurverrefront.JPG

You have no idea how weird it is to have my chemistry. Everything that usually puts people to sleep keeps me awake. Everything that usually keeps people awake makes me intolerable, mostly to myself. Sugar makes me a FUCKING asshole. Even in the form of apple juice -- no joke. Fruit juice, yogurt, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, all kinds of things that are supposed to be ok for you are awful for me. I can eat plain fruits and plain vegetables, and fats, and proteins. I have to be careful with carbs, because most of them are so close to sugar that there's little difference. White bread is right out. Baked potato: ok.

I'm sorry to ramble. Are you writing all this down? :)

i'm sorry

Amanda -- I don't have either of those tracks! I have one album by PV called "Letzte Tage ~ Letzte Nachte". I need more, obv.

Oh, I loooove that one. It was the first PV I bought and I listened to it in a botanical garden and it was like being in some weird primordial time machine. I love the cover too. I daresay it was a magical experience.

The true value of J0hn W1ll14ams is that he links me to things like that.

J0n, even

Working in a record store with a bunch of nerds did that for me.

Amanda, do you do vinyl? We are getting rid all ours I have a popul vuh record that is a compilation of his herzog scores. Free for the taking.

I fear that I have not progressed much in the last 5 or so years, as I do not know people who work at record stores anymore, and even though I get these kind of lists of everything that's good and new and re-released and etc from all kinds of ILM lists and record store emails and etc, I usually can't be buggered to sort through it all, and I care less and less. It was different back when I had friends who were like, "You would like this. YOU would like this."

I'm not the guy who sorts through it all, I have found. I'm not the front line. I thought I was at one time, but I'm not.

Jeff -- YES! Would love! Thank you.

I don't get recommendations from people either -- just poke around til I find something that makes me forget about my life. (in a good way, I mean). I like to pick through things, but I'm the kind who isn't compelled to foist things on other people maybe.

I think that's a good thing.

Actually, my best music-source friends have never foisted at all. They responded beautifully when asked, though. And one had a great radio show.

The Internet tells me what music to like. It's smart like that.

i wasn't planning on doing a best-of mix this year but i'm happy to make a mix of new music for whoever wants one

I'll have one plz

ok. i can't guarantee it'll all be new stuff to you but i'll work on something this afternoon.

well, now that i think about it, i only foist when it's absolutely necessary. like, jenny NEEDED to hear shirley collins. the rest of you could be spared unless you expressed interest.

i might like to hear your mix, nick!

ok. i'll post it here when it's done. i think it's going to be pretty mellow.

My 2k9 mix is pretty half-assed, at this point, but it's all electronic stuff. If you're lacking in that department, I guess maybe I could help. I'm hesitant to market myself much this year, though.

i actually assembled most of a 2k9 mix but i'm not very excited about it. i think for the mix for you guys i'm going to think more about having a cohesive sound/mood instead of a definitive "best of" for the year

Oh, please! I'd much rather have a mix than a playlist, if ya know what I mean.

The more I listen to music that is not indie rock, the more every magazine's best-of list is kind of alien to me. When did indie rock become the default? Did I miss that switch-over? Am I partly responsible for it?

a while ago
yes
probably

shit.

I blame Pavement.

It's just the 18-30 demographic.

Yeah, I was thinking of this while listening to Sound Opinions "Best of 2009" show -- when did indie rock become standard NPR music? And what music did NPR listeners listen to in the 80s and 90s???

"College rock" like Talking Heads, Living Colour, etc.

when? when people like us grew up and started working for NPR

that's part of why generally i just bow out of all that business. i'm not 18-30. i like what i like.

Well, I guess I feel like NPR's demographic skews older than 18-30? Which is maybe why I think that indie rock being all over it is wacky?

Trying too damn hard, it what it is. It's off-putting.

NPR is particularly popular among Baby Boomers. People between the ages of 45-64 listen to NPR at rates exceeding the national benchmark, while other age groups (18-34, 65 and older) tune in at rates below this benchmark. The median age of the NPR listener is 50.

Do you mean Sound Opinions by NPR? Or KCRW/The Current/etc.?

take it to ILM, nerds

j/k

but there are like at least 10 threads on this topic active every day on ILM just FYI

Sound Opinions in particular. I have pretty much stopped listening to it altogether. Even and almost ESPECIALLY its music news is better gotten elsewhere.

and if I have to hear those movie quotes at the beginning of the show one more time, I'm going to go hang a rock critic in effigy

May not be the ones responsible for the show... any rock critic will do.

jenny NEEDED to hear shirley collins

Yes she did! In fact, since you said that, she's going to listen to the Shirley Collins mix that you made her right now.

I love a lot of the indie rock on Kot/DeRogot's lists (we listened to the show in a cab on the way to buy a chair) - St. Vincent, Phoenix, Neko Case, Kid Sister (that is maybe not indie rock) and although I do not have the album, I really dug the Ida Maria clip. But Jeff made a playlist of our top 100 most played songs on iTunes the other day and I noticed that it was largely electronic-ish stuff. Apparently, one or the other us is constantly listening to James Holden's At the Controls mix.

Also, ftr, I am wicked intimidated by ILM so don't like to post there unless it's on a topic about which I am particularly knowledgeable, like the Flaming Lips, or a topic with generally non-intimidating experts, like Crowded House.

(Kenan - nighttime cold medicine knocks me out, but codeine and every prescription sleep medicine I've ever tried has put me right in that "dirty acid" state. The worst is when I'm physically so zonked out that I can't move, but mentally so revved up that I spend all night having very, very vivid almost awake dreams that all occur in my room around my my bed, like suddenly I'm in bed in my room but I'm also surrounded by people who are there to take a test for a class in which I am enrolled but never attended, etc, etc.)

xp (If I may continue ranting for two more sentences): I'd rather hear Jim Derogatis eat 5 pounds of sausage and fart the entirety of Wire's "Pink Flag" album than listen to this radio show. And I wouldn't be so bitter about it, except that now it fucks up my Saturday morning NPR schedule.

Sound Opinions started on XRT and, until a year or two ago, was produced by the station manager of WLUW, so I think that show in particular works to bring in a younger demographic to NPR listeners.

Other than that, I remember how every professor I had in college, and most writers/playwrights/actors etc. in their 20s/30s when I was 18-20, loved and revered Talking Heads. So it makes sense that someone on an indie but with big distribution, like Bird, Neko, Arcade Fire, etc., would fill that slot now.

i don't think i've heard enough new music (that i've enjoyed) to make a 2k9 mix. but conversely, i feel like i've been really been enjoying checking out new music this year.

very professor I had in college, and most writers/playwrights/actors etc. in their 20s/30s when I was 18-20, loved and revered Talking Heads

I totally love and revere Talking Heads.

(And, I mean, Bird, Neko, Craig Finn--those guys are near or at 40 themselves, so it makes sense that they appeal to people their age as well as the college-radio demographic.)

College music is college music because kids (kids being kids, teens, college kids) buy new stuff. Older folks don't need to buy that.

I've seen a few generations of folks buy a lot of music from ages 20-30 that...well, if it's not crap to begin with, it doesn't age well...and so maybe those same folks are burned when they hit 30-50.

I kind of missed the indie rock of the 90s, what with zydeco shows and folk music and all, but then ended up diving into it, both socially and as a musician, when I hit 30.

xp--and Talking Heads are an example of a band that endures!

So's Pavement, imo.

they say the heart of rock n roll is still beatin

and from what I've seen I believe em

I want a new drug. One that does what it should.

If this is it, please let me know.

You guys are walking on a thin line. Straight off the front line.

Ooh... a deep cut. Nice work.

bustin' makes me feel good

Here is a miniature family anecdote: my biological father's highest praise for any individual was that this person "had it all figured out." Two people who, according to my father, "had it all figured out" are Hewey Lewis and Jimmy Buffet.