Chicago: Whoosh

http://cbschicago.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/brella.jpg?w=420

scared of the gales of November come early?

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2010/10/25/warning-high-winds-ahead/

Fifth on the list is the storm on Nov, 10, 1975, which sank the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald freighter ship in Lake Superior. All 29 crewmembers were killed in the wreck, which inspired a pop song by Gordon Lightfoot.

Via Kenan:

http://i.imwx.com/web/news/2010/october/ncep-prog-102510-439x308.jpg

That's some low-ass pressure, right there.

Per Accuweather:

4: Fair. Expect only fair conditions for hunting and fishing.
10: Excellent. This is an great day for outdoor activities!
10: Excellent. Field conditions will be excellent for planting.
5: Good. Conditions will be good for sailing.
10: Excellent. This is a great day for walking your dog!
1: Poor. This is not the day for an outdoor barbecue.

I would like to know the metric by which they make these determinations.

Ten-sided die swiped from a D&D game.

My dad is flying to Ireland via ORD today. A day later and R and I might have had a houseguest.

I'm really looking forward to this.

Though maybe not looking forward to walking 6 blocks to the bus in a hurricane.

Is this a Skilling cyclone? If so, no need to worry.

I haven't checked Skilling, but my guess is that he's predicting beach weather.

No, Skilling is with the Trib, right? They are all doom and gloom about this, so it'll probably be a light breeze.

So I got the card for voting by mail today, which seems like a decent idea. Except that I have to mail the card back in order to get my ballot, which of course comes by mail. Then I have to fill it out and have it postmarked before the 2nd. There is no way I trust my mail delivery to allow all that to happen on time. I'll vote in person, thankyouverymuch.

Skilling isn't ALWAYS wrong, and when he matched exactly with what everyone else is saying, his opinion goes from being the crazy outlier to the nail in the coffin.

"A period of strong, possibly severe t-storms early. Then partly cloudy and very windy. Winds sustained 25 to 35 mph and gusting above 50 mph. High 69. (Record low barometric pressure possible.)"

SUSTAINED 25 to 35 mph. That's pretty damn windy, ppl.

And a 50 mph gust is like one of those rookie weather people standing in an oncoming hurricane, only without the surf and spray.

My mom confirms they are predicting doom out in the middle of nowhere the rest of the week.

Duluth, apparently, too.

Blizzards coming to Minot and Fargo.

Upper Midwest radar looking like, yes, a hurricane.

http://www.chicagoweathercenter.com/radar/regional/

Thunderstorms that have the potential to produce wind gusts of 70mph as well as brief tornados will roll across the Chicago area between 6AM and 9AM. A Tornado Watch remains in effect for most of the Chicago metro region until 11AM. The Tornado Watch for DeKalb, Boone, LaSalle, Lee and Ogle Counties has been extended from 6AM until 8AM.

At 4:52AM, the barometric pressure reading at O'Hare airport dropped to 29.07". This establishes a new record low pressure reading in Chicago for the month of October.

Pretty nasty out there now. I hear the neighbor's outdoor furniture rattling around, no doubt soon to be confirmed as blowing around once (if?) the sun comes out. And just now the rain has begun in earnest. Not much in the way of thunder/lightning yet, but surely it's to come.

I can hear planes flying around, can't be too bad yet.

Unless those aren't planes!!!

My main issue with this weather at this point is that it's 69 degrees and I do not have the gear for this much wind and rain if it's also warm out.

This is... weird.

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Arrested+Hollywood+star+Randy+Quaid+wife+fear+star+whackers+seek+refugee/3713206/story.html

Its not all that horrible out there, not yet anyway. It was windier up in Evanston than down here in the South Loop. I was actually able to use my umbrella for the walk from the train! I was smart enough to put all out patio furniture away last night, although it was kind of depressing because I know that, even if it warms up again, I'll be too lazy to lug it all back out - hence, the official end of outdoor weather.

Yeah, if that was as bad as it gets, I'm going to feel let down.

Also, Jenny OTM about it being too warm. I got nauseated on the bus this morning because I was way overdressed and all sweaty.

And wtf, Quaid.

Ohare has grounded all flights, according to NPR. The wind is not as bad as I expected.

This Randy Quaid thing is very strange. Is it possible they're not just nuts?

This is a poor excuse of a storm. It had best pick up soon or I will be cranky. In other news, our server has been down since friday

The main outdoor component of my commute happened during a lull in the rain and I'm not afraid to embrace my inner elderly and wear a scarf on my head to keep my hair from whipping back and forth so as long as a Purple line comes before the next torrential downpour I should be good.

My feet are not quite ready for my bad weather shoes but wearing crocs in this weather is sheer folly so shut up, feet.

Everything's fine here afaik. I haven't gone past the park yet to see if there are any downed trees.

I guess we're going to miss most of the nasty wind and weather, though there is still more to come. Fun fact: the pressure in the center of the system is lower than in the center of the last two Atlantic hurricanes.

Woosh.

This storm reaffirms my decision to move to a unit on a higher floor or at least with some light and view. I get no weather in my place.

I just bought my ticket to Australia.

Awesome!

It's nice outside. Cool big clouds rushing east.

This is another "depends on where you are" storm. I've heard of power outages up north and perhaps even tornados elsewhere, but here in Oak Park it is just windy and sunny. Then again, that was more or less the forecast, which called for rain/thunderstorms early, then wind and sunny, then (wait for it!) severe damaging winds later. Maybe. Possibly. We'll see. And the wind is supposed to stick around til Wednesday night.

25+ degree temperature drop overnight, which tends to bring out the crazy in weather.

If yall haven't seen it, the new wing of the UofC library is pretty awes. I walked by today and it's almost complete, couldn't find a good up-to-date-pic but this drawing is exactly what it looks like.

http://mansueto.lib.uchicago.edu/images/southview_c.jpg

I am not sure but I think that may adjoin the former site of the famous nuclear pile.

It is windy as hell in the South Loop right now. Depending on which direction I was walking I actually had to stagger along like a drunken fool to keep my balance.

What's under that dome? xp

I haven't been outside, but I'm told the West Loop is ridiculously windy.

Evidently the dome will house a huge reading room, offices, preservation facilities, and a crazy-looking automated storage and recovery system that may become sentient and take over the world.

http://mansueto.lib.uchicago.edu/

btw an alumni couple gave $25 mil for this thing, god damn

disappointed by this weather, and i traveled from the far north side to the west side to the mid north side with hardly any rain.

there was some noisy wind in my class, though. i was hoping for something dramatic to happen because we were talking about luck and survival and coincidence and whatnot.

not IN but DURING

so loud i couldn't hear (the admittedly quiet) student who was talking

FWIW, they never predicted much rain. It's all about the wind, but just goes to shows how boring wind seems without attendant thunder, lightning and cats and dogs.

Power is out at the school

ran into about 5 minutes of serious rain driving out to my job interview this morning, which somehow translated to 290 being backed up the entire way out there and me being late despite me leaving an hour ahead of time for a trip that google said would take "35 minutes in traffic." but i called and told them I was stuck in traffic and I was only about 15-20 minutes late so I don't think it was a big deal.

these academic interviews are weird in that you spend half a day with these people, telling them about your life and then going to a casual lunch with them, but there's a good chance they won't hire you and you'll never see them again. anyways I think I did about as good as I could, my presentation went well and the interviews were good. only part I feel weird about was lunch, I was pretty wiped out by then and probably wasn't as personable/outgoing as I could have been. we went to the Olive Garden.

weather weather weather

Academic interviews sound intense. I never had one but Emily has told me some stories.

Construction on the TJ on Diversey has sloooowed. Maybe they're doing less visible work, but the outside is still not complete, so I don't know. I just know that I need a grocery store.

It's cold as fuck. I should've brought a jacket.

Dude. It's 59º.

okay, it's not THAT cold, but I'm feeling it when the breeze hits.

It's not that warm either, let's agree on that much.

Kenan, go play with your wig.

I would def want a jacket in windy 59 degree weather! In fact, I'm a little worried that in my attempted to avoid overdressing this morning, I am underdressed for the commute home.

Jenny, go play with Kenan's wig.

Go play with Kenan's merkin.

I know most of you guys aren't fb friends with R so I'll pass along the news: she gainfully employed.

however, I cannot remember to use words like "is"

Dope, congrats

Interview wasn't that intense, the people seemed nice and mellow. I was worried about the presentation but I got to do it first thing and it seemed to go well.

however, I cannot remember to use words like "is"

I thought it was like a "Mr. Kurtz, he dead" sort of thing.

Kudos to R!

yeah I thought about trying to pass it off as a little ebonics

custos styleee

Congrats to both of u on the job front !

High five! What is her job?

wtg r!!

I had some free time this afternoon and was near the Hancock and obsessed with the beautiful racing clouds overhead, so I went up to the 95th floor and had a $7.50 strawberry smoothie and sat at a window and watched the clouds do their thing for half an hour.

Not a bad way to spend an hour, imho. I'm sure I've spent more on far less enjoyable entertainment.

i took pictures of the clouds. (did not turn out so great but w/e) it was really amazing how there was bright sun on top and DARK GREEEEEY on the bottom.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1120/5119083467_112ff85c56.jpg
not the world's best picture but you can see the weird clouds

The blue sky between the clouds was so blue today.

that picture has made me miss chicago intensely for some reason. also omg new u of c library!

you must not have smelled the jarvis stop recently haha
really though, i was away from chicago for a weekend and missed it enough to vow never to leave
this is where i live now

Lula Cafe is going as Kuma's for Halloween:

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/lumas_corner_menu.jpg

lol

OMG that's awesome.

i'm kind of embarrassed to be such a target demographic for that, but sure -- i can lol at it

Regretting that I don't have any Archers of Loaf on my iPod.

grooveshark!

they're harnessed in slums, but they want to be free

That whole album is so great. And yeah, I never did set up grooveshark. I think you just convinced me.

!!!

Oh settle down. It's a barely legal service that likely won't be there for long anyway.

Or, more likely, it'll be for-pay, and artists will license out their music to it. Which will make it like thirty other music services, and it will die a fast and unmerciful death.

what is there to set up on grooveshark? I just type things in and listen, then get frustrated when it stalls out between songs.

i just like to win, however feebly

I'm curious about Dan's question, too. After Amanda's "HOW DOES GROOVESHART WORK?!" crisis, I decided it was probably too complicated to try out.

god, that only lasted like 1 day
i figured it out, just like you said i would

Privately we had a group email where we worried that you would never figure it out.

i missed out on the halloween costume convo a few days ago so I will say: 1) i still don't have a costume planned, and 2) i thought it was pretty funny that jenny based the laziest side of her costume effort spectrum (flannel shirt = grunge guy) on my costume from like five years ago

ha i thought the same thing

I finally figured out one last night. It's a really bad pun.

i need some new guitar music to listen to

thought it was pretty funny that jenny based the laziest side of her costume effort spectrum (flannel shirt = grunge guy) on my costume from like five years ago

Haha I was hoping you wouldn't notice. I think you generally have pretty great costume ideas, FYI.

Someone should go dressed up as trader joes.

Another near-encounter with celebrity. I just watched Air Force One come in low over the Marriott on its way to O'Hare, flanked by several large Navy helicopters.

i saw jan schakowski shaking hands/drinking coffee at the loyola stop when i jogged past it this morning

it was not very exciting

That's too bad. Me, I got a big ol' erection.

Obama rally down here in HP on Saturday iirc.

Ran into an issue with my Halloween costume last night. It fits great, but it is a wee snug in one particular region.

boy do I know how that goes

I'm not sure that I can wear this thing out in public.

Nick/John et al: did you see that Alex Ross is doing a thing in town tonight?

Sheeeit, I wish I knew about that. I've become a big fan of his since reading The Rest is Noise last year and gettign a subscription to the New Yorker.

Yeah, this sounds like it'll be a good night. I just tried RSVP-ing and my e-mail got kicked back, alas.

Can't make it, unfortunately, but thanks for the tip!

jvc, you could tape, or tuck, or go the other direction and stick a sock down there. Assuming that by "one particular region" you mean your wang-area.

I'm sorry I just referenced your genitalia.

iirc he was talking about his kuato

http://nomaas.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/kuato.jpg

I sock does not help with the problem of excess wang.

Yeah a sock won't help, the problem is a little too much emphasis on the package region.

What are you going as again? You could always add a codpiece.

oh wait that's for accenting purposes, nm

Captain America, its one of those full body suits with the fake muscles and everything.

so just carry the shield a little lower

Someone should go dressed up as trader joes.

ha, that's a good idea, maybe i will be trader joe. i have a trader joe's back and i'll wear a creepy permanent smile all night.

so just carry the shield a little lower

Funny story about the shield, don't have one. I ordered this costume online (hate dredging through those pop-up costume dhops) and the pictured shield was like a good two feet in diamter when, in reality, it was about 10 inches in diamter. It was like an adult sized costume with a toddler's shield.

or just strut yr junk
who cares
it's halloween!

^^^ Probably easier than dealing with the costume annoyance of having something to adjust every twenty minutes.

This old dude on the division bus home was mumbling to himself while everyone around him was either visibly freaked out or (like this idiot kid across from him) trying not to laugh. I heard him talk about stabbing someone. Uh, not fucking funny.

I was thinking with the sock that it would over emphasize the crotchal region and in doing so camouflage you actual junk.

The power is out on the north side of Diversey from Halsted to Clark and there is a wind going through my apartment, making the window howl and the door resistant to opening. It wasn't much of a storm, but it's still some really major wind.

The power just went out at about 6:00 tonight.

Ugh, I'd invite you over if it wasn't an hour by bus.

i seriously almost got knocked over by the wind while i was biking to work yesterday. that has never happened before! pretty unpleasant bike ride, tbh.

thanks for the Alex Ross tip, E. I wouldn't have been able to make it since I don't get home til 8 on Weds. btw I checked out his new book from the library but couldn't get into it. I don't think it's a bad book, I just wasn't in the mood for it at the time that I tried to read it.

I'm reading The Instructions by Adam Levin now. He's a Chicago author, getting some David Foster Wallace comparisons but I think that's mainly because the book is really long, his style is a lot more direct and less digressive than DFW, but the book is really really good. it's about a violence-prone genius 10-year-old who may or may not think he's the messiah, has lots of stuff about judaism in it too.

No the power wasn't out at my house, just along Diversey. It was breezy in my apartment but I still kept the ceiling fans on and wore no shirt.

Isn't the new Alex Ross just a collection of New Yorker articles?

yeah

well, it's a collection of essays, not sure if they're all from the NYer or not

The power was out at the Jewel next to me all night. There were three cops stationed out front, and one out back at the freight entrance. It was the only dark building in sight. Must have it's own dedicated power line or transformer or something.

I know this is all very fascinating.

Kind of strange that they have cops there. Is this such a weather emergency that we are expecting looting?

People were not happy that Walgreens was closed, even though it was clearly black as night. One guy was trying to get an employee to open up. If he has a prescription waiting, he can always go to another of the dozen within 1/2 mile, ffs.

maybe he was off his meds

Kind of strange that they have cops there. Is this such a weather emergency that we are expecting looting?

I don't know, you'd be amazed at what people turn into when the lights go off. During my brief tenure at T@rg3t the power went off twice and the emergency generator failed to kick in and the store went pitch black except for the light coming in through the two front doors. It took 4 or 5 people at each door to stop all the people trying to walk out with merchandise.

I would take popsicles, but only because they're all going to melt if nobody eats them. It's a public service, see.

I mean, if I were in a dark grocery store. Not in Target. In Target I would of course steal small electronics.

If the lights all went out I would immediately think of stealing, but I wouldn't do it. I would want to, but I did enough shoplifting in my youth and I don't need the trouble now. I would hope that other people - the poor, the young - were getting some good stuff, though.

Who are you calling old, bitch?

Us.

I will steal 4 u

The devil will find work for idle hands to do
I stole and I lied, and why?
Because you asked me to

would i like 'the instructions'? sounds like it might be up my alley.

i'm reading the david lipsky DFW book now, which is great except for david lipsky.

you might like it? the stuff about judaism might not be as interesting to you, since you (presumably) know more about it, but I think you'd like the plot/characters/writing

attn eazy: this is a long shot, but do you know a dude who does sound design for plays named jam3s murr4y? we went to college together and i'd like to get in touch, but he's not on facebook. this guy.

oh hey, i think i still have his email, nevermind.

I don't know the guy, but I know other folks with that company he's linked to, so could track him down for a small fee (donut).

Tina Fey on Chicago
http://www.nbc.com/30-rock/video/tinas-chicago/1255542/

The beach that you can use ten days a year is OTM. I took a sunrise swim in the lake one perfect morning in August, when the wind was calm and the water was clear and a balmy 73 degrees. (Which is ass cold, btw.) You could open your eyes underwater and watch the fishies. I tried it again three days later, and the wind was brutal, and the water was 58 degrees and roiling. It looked like when you stir a cup of miso.

You can still "use" the beach even if you don't swim.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_QHzeNbFB07o/SbMJVbIVhbI/AAAAAAAAAy0/oPG7voiTTb8/s320/Great_Lake_Swimmers-Lost_Channels-%28Advance%29-2009-DV8.jpg
http://www.aux.tv/newmusic/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/great-lake-swimmers.jpg

73 degrees. (Which is ass cold, btw.)

I've really tried to cool it on the "it's not so bad wtf is wrong with you" rhetoric of late, but this is crazy talk. Lake Michigan is as bathwaterish as anything outside the industrial outflow from Cleveland steel mills.

Well, you do warm up. But in water, there is nowhere whatsoever for heat to hide around any part of your body. It's like being super hyper extra naked.

I had to stop swimming in Barton Springs pool in Austin because it was so cold (68 degrees) that whenever I got in my ears would ring for hours afterward, like I'd just seen The Who or something. Don't ask me what the connection was.

postin' a seasonal pic of my nephew because he is cuet

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1741/cppumpkin.jpg

n/a I dunno if it's what you had in mind but the new STNNNG album is pretty guitar-y

also they are playing at Quenchers on Thursday

a week from today, that is

thanks dan! I saw STNNNG at the Empty Bottle a few years ago and they were amazing. I'll look for that album.

I've been avoiding going on here at the new job but I am so gd bored today

got an email from the wh1st3r about show details that contained the exciting phrase "special band cocktail of the day"

Nick I thnk I just accidentally called you but it was an accident and I do not actually need to talk to you.

Trying to decide whether to keep drinking or ... not.

keep

your pants on at the very least

I just can't believe it is only 8:30. The last two nights I was still at work at this time.

Fuck this dark time of year. Fuck "falling back" one hour. FUCK FUCK FUCK.

i was at work tonight at 8:30 but now i am at home
when does the time change happen?

The first weekend in November, iirc.

I have to say, architecturally, the new Apple Store in Lincoln Park looks awesome. I need to go see it in person.

jvc, not to put you on the spot as a token architecture guy, but what do you like about it?

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/46000/46662/midwest_goe_2010299_lrg.jpg

Jess said he was going to a small bar tonight. So we went to Small Bar.

dang

jesse i am so excited that i can scream WINIS again like it's 2008 or whatever year that was
i feel a lot of excitement about this year's halloween party. tonight a student asked me if i am going to a halloween party and i just looked at him like you're kidding right? and then i said you KNOW i'm going to a halloween party.

Well, I've only seen pictures of it so maybe it just photographs really well... but I really like the way the glass at both ends and column free give it such an open and airy feel. The other Apple Stores are pretty sleek and slim, but with them terminating at the back like any other storefront, the illusion gets ruined. I just like how it looks like an enclosure instead of a building. It breathes, I like that. The one thing I can't tell from the pictures, of course, is context - and that may be a big strike against it when I see it in person.

It always ends well when a "secret" board's drama gets dumped out into the open.

whaaa?

Eh, nothing much, but people are getting all up in arms. Read the two "display names" threads if you really are curious.

jvc - One thing I noticed about it is that it looks good in context. This was just from the windows of my bus, though.

I am not "Jess" in Corey's story, btw. Just keeping the records of my comings and goings accurate.

yes, Jess = my roommate best friend that was @ dinner party

Someone help me make better voting decisions. For instance, are there any judges around that have got to go?

http://www.voteforjudges.org/homepage.htm

voteforjudges.org (I think it's .org) compiles the retention recommendations from various bar associations. I usually go with what the LGBTQ bar association recommends since they tend to be the most progressive/inclusive.

As for other candidates, as much as it pains me to say it, I'm just voting how Planned Parenthood tells me to. I'm so conflicted about so many of these clowns I'm straight up single issue voting.

xp yay I was right

Cool. Thank you.

You know, I love the smell of coffee, but I hate the smell of people who drink a lot of coffee.

I have never noticed that the over-caffeinated smell different.

I've totally noticed that on a particular coworker of mine.

I can't wait for this election to be over.

I think I may forget to vote in this election.

Apparently Kr's grandma has been complaining lately about the robocalls she's been getting from Democratic senatorial candidate Orange Julius.

I'm getting a little caffeinated myself this morning, and thinking about how many examples of poor industrial design are present in the office bathroom. The sink is a disaster for sinks. The faucet is motion activated, but difficult to activate, and also far too high above the sink rim, so there's no way to avoid getting water all over creation. The soap dispenser is also motion activated (why?), so even when you have enough soap, you keep making it spit out more while you lather up. Every sink always has a large pool of unused soap running down one side of the basin. And of course the water turns off in literally two seconds, which is never enough, so you have to fight to re-activate it, and get more water all over the place. The whole process serves to actually discourage people from washing their hands.

Also, the toilet water line is two inches from your ass. It's not a low-flow toilet, it's a low rider toilet.

The paper towel dispensers at RMU are motion-activated, and I startled the hell out of myself yesterday refilling my water bottle in the kitchen sink by leaning into the motion detection area and activating the GGRRRRRWWWWEEEERRRRR paper towels

Hi, I had some whiskey last night and now I am hung over. Ugh.

i felt hung over this morning and i didn't have a drop to drink last night.

hey n/a, the wh1stler used your video on their site for that dec 16th show.

should i send a cd to the Reader in advance of the show?

yeah you should - they do show highlights, which are usually national touring bands, but are sometimes smaller bands. i'd try to get something out soon, and include a press sheet mentioning you play at green mill regularly so they know you're not just some guy

i wouldn't bother with the onion's chicago version, they don't really cover local bands, but time out chicago, new city and some of the bigger websites (e.g. gapers block) might be worth targeting as well, if you've got enough cds. if not, an email with a link to mp3s might be enough to do the job.

awesome, thanks! that's weird about the chicago av club...the madison version has been really great about local music (maybe because national acts don't play here, HA).

the onion av club here does have show listings, but their writeups seem to mainly be for touring bands or maybe local bands that are starting to get some hype. i don't know, i never had any luck getting any response there, but maybe your luck would vary, esp. since you got the madison onion in your corner

av club has been great for work series but that's movies

what kind of whiskey did you drink dan

i feel kinda high on life today guys

I think the thing is that the print version of AV club only highlights a couple of bands per evening so they tend to stick to the bigger bands

I still have about a quarter of a bottle of buffalo trace bourbon left over from last winter, I should get into it now that it's colder

i feel good too, really ready for the weekend. last couple of days of new job have been pretty lame, not because of anything bad but just because they were so quiet and boring and long and time-wasting, so I'm ready to have a few days where I can do what I want to do.

I haven't noticed a particular antipathy toward local bands in the AV Club, but they certainly don't cover as much as the Reader does.

what kind of whiskey did you drink dan

I had 1 glass each of Maker's, Knob Creek, and Basil Hayden. For some reason I've really enjoyed slowly sippin' on this kind of stuff lately, maybe it is the turning of the seasons.

is basil hayden a bourbon? i've been waaaay into peaty scotch these days. benromach is my jam.

bulleit is my bourbon of choice

maybe it is the turning of the seasons

Oh definitely. Nothing like something warming and nutty and oaky and amber in the fall.

I haven't had a good three-finger glass of Knob Creek in a long time. That stuff is heavenly. If you like bourbon, obv.

Bulleit is way hotter than I like. I prefer the softer touch of Knob Creek. I wonder if the ABV is actually higher in Bulleit.

See I think my newly forming bourbon palate likes the hotter stuff, I should try Bulleit. I would have, if they'd had it at the Globe.

I have Buffalo Trace because the dude at the liquor store (the nice one near Addison/Leavitt) recommended it, and it's really good, all vanilla-y and smooth and delicious

Basil Hayden's is indeed a bourbon btw, and too smooth for my tastes. I think it's an upmarket Jim Beam product.

I am curious about smokier whiskies but don't know if I'd want to drink them all the time. Still I'd like to try some out.

relevant: http://gapersblock.com/drivethru/2010/10/25/move_over_jameson/

we should all do a whisky/bourbon tasting somewhere, like Delilah's. i want to know more about different varieties/tastes/etc.

I'd like that.

Not if I end up feeling like I did this morning though. Fair play to the whiskey, though, I had wine with dinner and mixing all that stuff is probably a bad idea.

I don't know shit about whiskey or bourbon or whatever, but I do see Buffalo Trace quite a bit at bars that have craft cocktails.

Jeff and Jenny live really near Delilah's now so after our tasting we can all go nap in their human centipede room

Um, it's actually a masturbatorium now.

iirc kuma's has buffalo trace on tap

Hi guys. I am back from the lovely Hickory Ridge Marriott Conference Hotel, where it costs $12.95 per day to get internet in your room.

I bought a bottle of Jameson last night, but this thread is making me wish I had bought something more interesting. Though I just went to Jewel and so choices were limited.

I can't decide if I like stout or whiskey more for my winter drinking.

I think it's an upmarket Jim Beam product.

So's Knob Creek.

I think most hard liquor brands are owned by large corporations? Including a lot of single malt distilleries and the like. I'd like to investigate more "craft distilleries" -- I had a Rogue whiskey last weekend at binny's and it was good.

http://www.koval-distillery.com/

It looks like they have tours of the distillery tonight and the following two Sundays.

I can't make it tonight but would be interested in going on one of the other dates, if anyone else is interested.

that kinda sounds like fun

also -- you can have bourbon on TAP?! wha?

i really like the earthy/peaty/smoky scotches a lot - would like to try more of those
bourbon is almost too sweet for me, just by nature
i bought benromach because i had it at a tasting at that place across the street from my apt (they have tastings pretty frequently) and i LOOOOOVED it

Bourbon is the sweetest liquor. The dryest, counter-intuitively, is rum.

hey, it's really beautiful today

Koval looks awesome, would love to go on a distillery tour. Isn't it located right next to Metropolitan Brewing Co.?

yeah the tour does sound fun. i'd go.

We're going to see Dylan tomorrow night, and I am getting v. excited

sadly every time someone says dylan i think they're talking about my friend's kid
named dylan

That's not sad, really.
But I meant robert dylan.

robert "bob" dylan

I wonder if bob dylan ever legally changed his name to bob dylan.

you guys this is mine now
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1402/5126132311_bcd0c49e6d.jpg

like, if you ever have any questions about, say, The Cruel Mother or Tam Lin or Robin Hood or any Child ballad, i can answer them! with these books!

I can't believe you stole those from a library, what kind of human being would

didn't steal but i cannot tell you how i got them

Because you're ashamed?

she's working on her ballad version of what happened

indeed i am

it involves a may morning and an old man i met on the road
a tinker in search of a good night's rest and a mysterious heavy load

should be done by next week brb

should be done by next week brb

Is this the start of the next stanza? I'm jealous, those books look fascinating.

actually i am never going to tell where these came from so you can't make me
but when i have been ferried away from my father's house late at night by the old tinker, when i'm about to get stabbed down by the river, you'll hear a wee bird
after singing a sad song, she will begin to tell my story

(one of my favorite things on earth is the disparity in storyline between pretty polly (us version) and the outlandish knight (which has another name but i've forgotten it -- the elfin knight?)

when i have been ferried away from my father's house late at night by the old tinker, when i'm about to get stabbed down by the river, you'll hear a wee bird
after singing a sad song, she will begin to tell my story

I really do like you.

it should me "my story she will begin to tell", more folksy iirc

should BE

More mythic.

man I have no idea what any of this is about :(

Listen to more Fairport Convention, imho.

been mostly Dillinger Four over here today tbh

Fairport Convention or no, terrible things have seemingly always happened down by the river. Idyllic and sorrowful places, riversides are, remindful of both love's halcyon beginning and its rueful end.

thus begins Kenan's murder confession

stabbed pushed off a cliff

my favorite "down by the river" murder ballad song

http://abmp3.com/download/3322708-the-doomed.html

crap, now I have Richard Marx in by head (not yr fault dan)

"Hazard"?

Worst "sexy" Halloween costume ever?

Jane Doe DOA

Although she doesn’t have much of a personality, she is still drop dead gorgeous in this body bag dress, I’m sure you have the personality and in this you will be gorgeous.

"This hooded mini dress is based on a Coroners body bag!"

Who would ever know that? It just looks sheer and zippered and at worst a little fetish-y.

http://wtfshouldibeforhalloween.com/

Haha - my answer from wtfshouldibe: Sexy Hindsia

(Hindsia is a genus of about 11 species of shrubs in the family Rubiaceae, native to tropical South America, mainly in Brazil.)

Also an excellent answer: SEXY DENATURED ALCOHOL.

they know how to be sexy in Brazil xp

Lol, this sums it up perfectly:

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7429337/

my favorite down by the river murder ballad song is this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5zhn5lSjUc

but you'll see that the person who gets murdered isn't who you think
and that's why i like it
and why it's better than pretty polly (who dies)

On bus, using phone to internet. Is that the 'Take off, take off your silken stays' one? Racy! Or at least I thought so in third grade.

It was in a children's poetry compilation (I know) edited by Louis Untermeyer that also included 'The Highwayman'.

My neighbor was outside talking to some guy with an idiot beagle that started barking at me as soon as I came within sight distance of my apartment and is still outside barking its idiot beagle head off, about ten minutes later.

there are two beagles who live on my street who bark incessantly
must be a thing they do

Fuck beagles. Ive been warning people for years.

Barking incessantly is definitely a thing beagles do.

you guys i put a ton of photos up on my flickr page in a set predictably entitled Halloween 2010
i made it friends-only, so if you are not my flickr friend, now is the time

there are only two pictures in that set

fun party, dudes

I found the set but I can only see two photos in it?

xp oh hi

Yeah, judging by the privacy settings on the picture you emailed me, Amanda, you've got them all set to private.

Maybe i need to mark you guys as friends. I'll do that when I get home. Eating burgers and fries in the hood atm

ok i fixed it -- anyone who was my contact before is now a friend too, so you should be able to see the photos

Gah burger/fries was a mistake. Now I'm at the laundromat reading a particularly dull report for work and it feels as if i'm being punished. This? On Halloween??!?

Lemme know if you guys still can't se the photos and I can make them all public. I just like to be careful.

I can see them! I, too, had a burger and fries and three beers, bringing my total alcohol consumption for the last two days above my consumption for the last, like, month. Woooooooo.

Also I created a "drink the beer list" card at DMK burger bar, which I predict will go nowhere.

Good burger, though.

Sorry we missed the party. The Dylan concert was kind of a bummer (and a really expensive one at that) so afterward we were spent and we decided to cut our losses and go home. But I'm glad it seemed like a good time was had. That kenan udder picture is a wonder to behold.

Need to go back to dmk burger bar, is it generally packed?

alright i just changed the permissions on all of the photos
knock yourselves out

Not packed at certain times. Generally good before 7:00 PM on weeknights and early afternoon on weekends. I always sit at the bar though. I'm 16 beers into drinking the list! Only 17 to go.

ok limited amt of photos are also on facebook now, but k8t and t0mas requested it and i left the more scandalous ones out
all of you should be able to see them if you are my fb friends -- just go to albums

Oof. My feet are sore not because the shoes didn't fit, but because it takes a lot of muscle to walk in heels. Same for my legs, pretty much all up and down. Ditto by lower back and abs. I'll say this for heels -- they force better posture. Even my earlobes are sore. It's hard being a girl.

so i went for "werewolf bar mitzvah" but ended up with "vulcan jew"

also, crazy cat update: now that we've turned on the heat in the apartment, she DOES NOT LIKE IT. it's a lot louder and more intermittent than in my last place, and she literally meowed all night without stopping. could be a long winter.

My friend Ann's cat is like that about their central air. Weird.

cats are weird

really fun weekend. makes it harder to go back to work, instead of easier

I saw jaymc this morning as I got off the bus at the brown line station. That was a pleasant surprise!

You should arrange for John to appear randomly along your commute. It helps.

Ha, it was a pleasant surprise for me, too. I was on my way to an ophthalmogist appointment.

John, if you could stand by Buckingham Fountain at about 8:10 a.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, and every other Friday, that would be great. I will wave to you from my car. Thanks.

Head on over to the giant eyeball after that, I'll be along shortly

i'll be downtown at the dentist soon and could use a pick me up

The giant eyeball comes down today, though, right?

I mean, they may be dismantling it as we speak.

really?
i thought it was there forever

I honestly kind of hate that "park" it's in. It was better as just a grass lot.

either way it attracts a lot of vagrants. that's such a strangely run-down part of the loop.

Hmm, I've never actually seen it in person.

that's such a strangely run-down part of the loop.

I know exactly what you mean. It's strange. It's like this one acre of crappy, right behind the library.

Also around the McDonald's and on Jackson between Dearborn and State.

Yeah, that "park" is even worse than the Eye park.

I had a picnic with my coworkers there years ago and I have two anecdotes:
* I tripped and fell on my face on the way there, dropping the falafel I had made and I still remember it in slow motion
* a hobo tried to join us at our picnic

The whole thing was really grim.

That was just a vacant lot when I was in LOL school and it was a favored hangout of vagrants then, too. It's nice that the city landscaped it and licensed a food cart for them.

Giving back to society, amirite?

Hey folks, go vote tomorrow.

My polling place right across the street from my apartment! Hooray!

Apparently mine is a neighborhood bodega? If anyone is familiar with Avondale it's "Bread & Butter" which may be the bodegaiest bodega that ever bodega'd.

Man tomorrow is going to be so tight for voting. I have a late appointment after work and won't get back home until well after the polls close at night, so I have to go in the morning. It wasn't going to be a problem at all, but now a meeting that was scheduled for 7:30 Wednesday morning has been moved to tomorrow morning. So I have to get to the polling place, vote, get to Howard, and get down to work in the South Loop all by 7:30.

xp like I don't think they even have a cash register, just a pad of paper

That is some bodega.

jvc, can you take a break during the day?

dan - that's very strange!

my polling place is in the lobby of an old folks' apartment building.

Not a break long enough to get all the way back up to Evanston and back, no. I'll be able to get it all in, I just wish I wouldn't have to rush through it all.

Polls open at 6, and my polling place is two blocks away. If I get up 30 minutes early, I won't even be late for work. If I get up an hour late, I already have permission to blame it on voting. Can't lose. :)

i thought polls opened at 7? that's the case here anyway.

Nope. Just looked. 6 a.m.

I thought 6 was pretty much the national standard, but not in Wisconsin, I have now learned. However, in WI they're also open until 8, and most polls close at 7.

Seems like some states favor voting before work, and some states after.

I have off tomorrow for the voting.

I need to do some research for tomorrow. I feel like the kid doing her homework right before class begins.

http://www.chicagoelections.com/voterinfo.php?language_type=en

You can get a sample ballot here.

If you only vote on one judicial retention candidate, vote no for Dorothy F. Jones. She's the only judge that not a single bar associate recommended for retention.

Wait, she had no recommendations because she refused to participate in the evaluation process. But definitely vote not to retain horrible, horrible Susan McDunn:

In 1998 and '99 McDunn blocked adoptions by two lesbian couples. In each case the prospective adoptive parent sought, with her partner's approval, to adopt her partner's child. Social service investigators gave the prospective parents glowing reviews, and the children's court-appointed advocate endorsed both adoptions. But McDunn said she couldn't tell if the adoptions were in the best interests of the children without a hearing in which evidence was presented that adoptions by lesbians were not in the children's best interests. She appointed the Family Research Council, a Washington, D.C., group opposed to gay adoptions, to be a "secondary guardian" to the children in the cases.

She got taken off the bench for that and appealed, and was eventually returned in 2004, which just arg.

ugh

barf

Appointing the Family Research Council as secondary guardian to those kids makes me so angry I can barely see.

FWIW, I really like Toni Preckwinkle, who is an alderwoman and running for Cook County Board President. She put through a declaration for us on International Women's Day a few years ago making it an officially recognized day in Chicago. She also was really supportive of the bubble zone ordinance that keeps asshole Compulsory Pregnancy Advocates a certain number of feet away from the doors of women's clinics.

also what a great name

I know, right??? It's fun to say out loud.

Memorable, anyway.

haha one year in Chicago a friend of mine voted but didn't know a lot about all the candidates who weren't running for major offices, and she was like, "i just voted for the ones whose names sounded like they might belong to women of color"

i am not endorsing this approach but it made me lol

What color is a Preckwinkle? I can't even guess.

i have no idea i am just free associating about Chicago and elections because i miss it.

the spelling "Toni" does suggest "Morrison," so there's that.

"i just voted for the ones whose names sounded like they might belong to women of color"

Hahaha I'm not going to say I've never done this...

TP:

http://www.essence.com/images/mt/toni-preckwinkle-300x425.jpg

<3

Yeah, I was just about to post that exact same picture. For a second I forgot about Google.

One of the bar associations says that Dorothy Jones didn't always use *law* when judging, but her "what she thought was correct." She defended herself by saying something about, of course I based my decisions on what I thought was correct, that's my job. Thus entirely missing the point and making me want to vote not to retain her.

And McDunn can fuck off. I didn't read about the FRC, but she said in her defense that she would always decide adoptions with the child's interest first - she made it sound lovely (who doesn't want a child's interests to come first?!) but she didn't address the issue of her personal prejudices against gay people.

No judge has been not retained since 1990, IIRC.

She defended herself by saying something about, of course I based my decisions on what I thought was correct, that's my job.

Blood-boiling.

On a different topic with much much colder body temperature, I'm about to watch the pilot of The Walking Dead. Jenny, did you see this last night? I'm hearing good-to-great things.

Maybe I should just watch it.

I'm watching it right now!

Watched The Walking Dead last night, it was very good but not quite yet great.

Really wish I could have made the Halloween party Saturday night, but no matter how much I told my wife that you guys are cool and fun - there was just nothing about "um, people I know from the interwebs" that was enticing her into going along.

Well, you can tell her that she just made us all cry.

next time just show her this picture
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs882.snc4/71566_452966314937_502964937_5142509_6127394_n.jpg

I do wish there was video of that deliberate spectacle.

Not helping me feel better about missing the festivites, tbh.

there was also delicious taco dip

That's not a euphemism.

I'm a dumbass b/c I forgot to educate myself about the stupid governor recall referendum :(

I did too. :/ I spent so much time on looking up judges that I completely forgot about that.

I just didn't vote on it. But then I got caught b/c the machine noticed I hadn't voted and the guy attending to it asked me if that was a mistake. Bad citizen!

well i'm not voting til this afternoon so tell me what's the deal with that thing

This is probably as good a description as any. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-10-31/news/ct-met-illinois-governor-recall-20101031_1_signatures-illinois-house-illinois-voters

I feel educated enough to vote on it, now. I want to go back.

On first glance, the power to recall governors seems like a good thing based on Illinois' recent history with governors.

that article makes it sound pretty meaningless actually, based on the provisions needed to recall a governor

I wonder if Blago would have been recalled under this measure.

well he was impeached anyways, so I'm not sure why the measure is necessary?

feelin dum

I guess the measure would allow a public vote on whether to remove the governor, while an impeachment is done by other politicians.

Right, and the public vote depends on a certain number politicians' demanding that the issue be voted on.

I don't understand the potential conflict of this measure with the U.S. Constitution and I don't care to look it up, but if anyone else can sum it up in an easy to read and entertaining way, I'd appreciate it.

i got to vote on referendums about weed and money for the technical college. ah, madison.

Speaking of Madison, we are going up there this weekend for a "romantic getaway." We won't have too much time, but if anyone has any recs of places we shouldn't miss, I'd appreciate it.

sure, let me know if you need any restaurant recommendations or whatever

I want to go to House on the Rock. I wonder if winter is a an OK time to go?

it should be - there are some gardens and stuff but most if it's inside

Thanks Jordan! I'd kind of like to go out for a "nice" meal, though nothing too extravagant. so any ideas on that front would be extremely welcome. Also, where's the best place to go for BEER?

http://www.thehouseontherock.com/p7hg_img_1/fullsize/Fan_Table_fs.jpg

I used to have a coffee table made from a big bellows. I lost it in the divorce.

for beer, you're going to be very happy. almost everywhere has a great beer list, but this place is ridiculous: http://www.malthousetavern.com/

Holy shit, that place does look amazing! And I think we'll probably pass it on our way into town from the place we'll be staying. Though since we're staying on the outskirts and are therefore driving, I guess drinking will have to be somewhat limited.

and for nice restaurants that aren't super expensive, i'd suggest these:

http://www.sardinemadison.com/
http://grazepub.com/main.php?page=team.php

for casual atmosphere with good food (more on the awesome sandwiches tip than fine dining), check the weary traveler on williamson st.

lots of good ethnic places, bars w/great food, and breakfast/brunch places too if you're interested.

xp it's worth a cab imo

Thanks! I'm trying to make this romantic, but, frankly, I can be bad at that kind of thing. But it's our fifth anniversary.

I think we have some good brunch places in mind, but thanks. As far as I can tell, Madison is a magical wonderland where delicious food and drink are as common as tap water. I sometimes think I should have gone to library school there,instead of NC.

yeah that's pretty much the shape of things

let me just toss one brunch suggestion out there:

http://www.goodmancenter.org/resources/ironworks-cafe

the food is awesome and it's a cool program (staffed largely by high school kids in an alternative ed program)

What is your concern w/r/t failing at romance, Eric?

Ha, I don't think I'm failing at it, I just don't think about making things romantic all that much? I mean, five years is a long time, and it's easy to just be a creature of habit.

Plus, this weekend is supposed to be v. special for reasons that will not be revealed at the present time.

HUH I WONDER WHAT THAT MEANS

daylight savings duh

It's a special time of year for us all.

What a fun, sexy time for us.

I am thankful that we will get an extra hour in Madison, yes.

Oy, I set my alarm for 8 am and I was going to get up and go vote and then be super duper productive around the house and my alarm went off and without even waking up, I turned it off and slept in until a little before 10. Wut???

I have completed a number of small household chores* this morning, however, and now I'm finna go vote and eat then something ridiculous and skillet-based at the Golden Apple.

*por exemplo, I am trying to follow the directive of that weenie who wrote the apartment therapy books and keep fresh cut flowers in my house, because I love fresh flowers, but I'm so bad at the auxiliary responsibilities that come with fresh flowers, like remembering to throw them out when they are dead.

Jenny, your comments from last week on the "let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-workers" thread, re: your work bathroom, are causing me to crack up while sitting at the reference desk. It is a problem.

I set my alarm for 6:30, woke up, hit snooze, peed, went back to bed, then slept through the next alarm. I had a dream that I was going to high school in the wilderness in Montana and I was waiting for jaymc's brother and girlfriend to pick me up in their SUV, but I missed them somehow. I tried to catch a cab, but they were all full (there were lots of cabs, even in the mountains).

The school bus came by and I missed it and I woke myself up by hollering "OH FUUUUCK!" and then I went to vote.

I woke up because Evvie was nursing really loudly, got up to peed, got back in bed, and the alarm went off.

I don't understand why alarms even have snooze buttons.

I kind of love my snooze button, especially since it's been getting colder. Staying in my warm bed for even 5 extra minutes is stupendous.

so just set the alarm for five minutes later!

but you have to be awake to appreciate the sleep

I like hitting Snooze b/c I like being half-awake and getting to enjoy my bed.

xp

There are pigs on the freeway.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/_pigs612.jpg

Jordan and Jesse otm re: snooze button joy

best picture ever.

A total of 23 pigs died.

:(

Kr usually sets the alarm for the time she would ideally like to get up, but when the alarm actually goes off, she's not always feeling it. Hence: snooze.

If alarms did not have snooze buttons, I would be a more on-time and therefore more productive and therefore an all-around happier person.

you guys are playing mind games with yourselves

Tbf, I never used the snooze button until I got to college and dated snooze-button advocates.

I am not playing a mind game. Sleep is a non-experience; snoozing is a delightful experience.

it's just weird to me; I hate the feeling of being in bed and knowing that I'm mostly awake but that the alarm is going to go off in 5 minutes and I can't really go back to sleep. It's a source of anxiety, not pleasure, for me.

Maybe part of it is it takes me a while to fall back to sleep once I wake up.

Keep in mind that my snoozing usually involves a warm kitty snuggled up against me, so, really, that five minutes is one of the best parts of my day.

I don't snooze.

I'm in LA. I'm bringing the weather back. Somehow.

I snooze because I hate getting up and I need that time in the borderlands to let the rational part of my brain gear up and talk the rest of me into getting out of bed and going to work. Also I have a tendency to fall back asleep after I turn the alarm off so snooze keeps that from happening (usually).

AJ everything on that bathroom list is the god's honest truth. lolsob.

Maybe part of it is it takes me a while to fall back to sleep once I wake up.

Even if you're only awake for a few seconds?

Ha, sorry for laughing at your misery Jenny, but for some reason the praying while pooping thing is hilarious to me.

I snooze and I don't drink coffee.

If you keep your alarm clock far from the bed, you're forced to get up and walk to turn it off and can avoid the whole turning it off and going back to sleep thing. As you know, I hate being late or feeling rushed, so I've never been a snooze button advocate. When I was working, I'd set the alarm way earlier than necessary to allow lots of time to do chores, eat breakfast, and lounge around with coffee and a book. I am a morning person though.

I'm with Nick on this one. Snooze is not fun. It's anxious.

I have occasionally experienced one of two worst-case scenarios with the alarm clock. One is that I reach over in my sleep and turn the alarm off in a way that I cannot remember. Not snooze, just off. I wake up hours and hours late. The other is that I simply sleep through the alarm, and wake up with it blasting in my ear, hours and hours late. When my decides it needs more sleep, it does not tend to negotiate.

my brain, I meant to say

I woke up even earlier when I was running every morning. Do you run before work, Jeff? I loved seeing the streets all empty in the dark.

The alarm-clock-across-the-room thing has never worked for me. I **HATE** getting up in the morning. God, how I hate it.

I love waking up when I've had enough sleep. But I've never been able to reconcile having all the late-night "me" time that I demand, and getting all the sleep that my body demands. I can sometimes go through whole weeks completely pickled and barely coherent, just from lack of sleep.

I wonder if there's some correlation between the "I just wake up when the alarm goes off" people and the "when the pool is cold, I just jump in" people - people who just like to get all the punishment over with at once, instead of drawing it out. Though Sarah fits the first type but not the second, so I guess not.

I wonder if I'm not just a big frickin' baby who should suck it up and get on with it. I wonder that a lot, actually.

I usually jump in the pool when it's cold.

I loved seeing the streets all empty in the dark.

I can't stand the thought of waking up when it's still dark out.

Me too, but on the rare occasions when I've been up when the streets are dark and deserted, it has been awesome. Magical, almost.

guys, you know when you stay up really late at night, then you stay up later at night, then you stay up even later at night, eventually it's morning. so early in the morning is actually just really really late at night. does that help?

The alarm-clock-across-the-room thing has never worked for me. I **HATE** getting up in the morning. God, how I hate it.

OTM. Having to immediately get out of bed when the alarm goes off makes me sick to my stomach (especially when I'm in that "MAKE THE NOISE STOP MAKE IT STOP FUCK WHERE AM I WHAT IS HAPPENING" phase of waking (huh, maybe that is really the crux of my snooze button preference. When I first wake up, I am NOT OKAY and I need those five to nine snooze minutes to adjust to this new and confusing state of being). And whoamygod, really, really grumpy.

Haha, dark deserted streets just make me nervous for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

I love driving as the sun comes up. I like when I start a road trip when it's still an hour or more before daylight. It's even more awesome in the winter when it's clear and frosty.

http://www.walkingdeadforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/The-Walking-Dead-AMC.jpg

That's totally it. I'm not a morning person at all. I am usually really, REALLY asleep when the alarm goes off, like dreaming asleep, and being jerked out of sleep that deep makes me feel physically ill and mentally distressed so if I hit snooze, I can go back and ease into the waking up process, which is a little more pleasant.

I even have one of those alarm clocks that starts with a light, to try and limit the bad feeling of waking up so abruptly, but what usually ends up happening is I have dreams that someone is shining a light into my eyes, or I'm outside and I can't find my sunglasses, etc., until the noise part of the alarm goes off and then it's the same scenario as above.

It also takes me approximately 3 seconds to fall asleep. Unless there is some external stressor fucking with my sleepabilities, I am pretty much the gold medal champion sleeper of the universe.

I used to have a CD play "Hot Hot Hot!" by The Cure as my alarm (starts with Robert Smith singing "She may be the face...." in a falsetto). That was actually a pretty pleasant way to wake up. Also for a while I played "Waking the Witch" by Kate Bush.

I woke up at 11:30. Fuck this cold. :(

My mood throughout the day is incredibly, really embarrassingly dependent on what stage of sleep I wake up from. If I'm too far under when I'm forced to wake up, I'm angry, and I usually don't recover from it all day. Or at least not until I can go back to sleep. Sometimes I only need another two hours or so, and then I'm all rainbows and puppies.

Talking about sleep makes me panicky and sad and almost nauseated. Just the thought of the way I feel all day when I need more sleep makes my blood pressure skyrocket with anxiety.

I liked the last alarm clock we used, which was the iPod dock clock radio thing that is now in the kitchen, because I could set it to go off to NPR, which is pretty soothing, and it would start out quietly and then gradually get louder. I didn't hit snooze as much with that clock, but I did lay in bed and listen to the news for awhile, which had its good points and its bad points, depending on how terrible the world was on any given day.

Just the thought of the way I feel all day when I need more sleep makes my blood pressure skyrocket with anxiety.

That is a bad feeling! I know that feeling.

Oh hey, I got exit polled on the way out of my polling place. I particularly enjoyed marking the box saying that I was 'strongly opposed' to the stupid awful terrible just die already Tea Party.

My boss (John) is a pretty staunch progressive/Dem and he's doing voter protection today. Unfortunately, he's driving his mechanic's loaner car, which has a McCain/Palin sticker and a Calvin pissing on the words "GUN CONTROL." Ha.

lol

I typically do not run before work because I would have to get up so so early because I often have to get into work at ass o'clock. Hard to run for an hour + then have to ice my knees for 20 min, then shower and get ready, then go to work.

I would get up super early on Saturday mornings though when I was doing long runs. 4 or 4:30 am.

I'm having a kind of breathless Chorus Line "I hope I get it" thing over here about this job with the MacArthur Foundation. I just want an interview.

Hey, I want a job there too, but I'm guessing it's a different job.

saw a listing for a library job at the Poetry Foundation, thought about applying

John, how can you avoid getting up when it's still dark out the entire winter?

We did the NPR clock radio alarm for a while about 6-7 years ago. I loved that. We used a cd alarm clock for a while, but it would always start with the first track and we were lazy about switching it out, so it basically taught you to get super annoyed at particular songs.

you guys are all talking about sleep and i just had to make a doc appt for insomnia :-/
3 hours last night, 11-2.

i
feel
horrible

was barely making sense in class today
i'm not a good sleeper at all (can't nap, etc) but this is out of control. i love getting up and running in the dark, but 2am is a bit much

i wake up to esquivel "night and day" but for a while i was waking up to some stupid pajo song because it was really slow and boring

actually these days i wake up to a state of natural panic but that's beside the point

once I was using a computer program that would play a shuffled playlist on iTunes, which once made me late for work because the track that played was Eno's Thursday Afternoon. ¬_¬

I am pretty much the gold medal champion sleeper of the universe.

I think Kr might like to challenge you on that.

(Although her thing is being able to sleep for long hours, not being able to get to sleep right away.)

John, how can you avoid getting up when it's still dark out the entire winter?

I dunno? I guess because I almost never get up before 7:15.

Interesting ... the latest sunrises of the year are *this week*. This morning's was 7:23. (I think I got up at 7:30.)

I used to be, but I guess age has eroded some of my capacity to power sleep.

And increased my capacity to power bottom.

So my 20 year high school reunion is the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we just got an email about the Friday night plans, which are to have a bonfire out on this one redneck classmate's farm.

I suppose that's probably potentially really fun, but I'm so opposed to the entire undertaking that they could send out an email saying that we're all going to play with puppies and eat pumpin pie and get massages and presents and my first reaction would still be to hate it.

Pumpin' pie. Ha.

Your "power bottom" comment had a subconscious effect on me, apparently.

It's nice to know that I've made a difference.

sorry about your insomnia, amanda

i drugged myself heavily and slept moderately last night
yay?

two things:

* really disappointed about this recall amendment. total bs imo.
* does anyone want to see yakuza with me on friday 11/26 at the EB?

fucking wisconsin

fucking EVERYWHERE

i just don't even know what to say about this shit anymore
it's like 500 layers of the onion bad, so bad it would be difficult to explain to someone who hadn't been around for the last 10-12 years

i feel bad for people who have to explain this to their kids, like 12 year olds and whatnot

I am so so so goddamn disheartened today. Worse when I saw two different winners last night talk about "taking down Obamacare".

Would love to see Yakuza, but sadly I will be in MI for Thanksgiving that weekend.

Don't they get that Obamacare is a paper tiger anyway?

I'm looking on the bright side this morning. At least we don't have to say "Senator Sharron Angle."

point taken

Also, I think the recall amendment is a bit silly, but it's hardly dangerous or wrong-headed.

i'm looking on the bright side because i slept more or less ok last night

see, i think the recall thing is dangerous. to me it seems like it would mean two things: cowardice while in office (though i admit this can be a good thing when morans are elected), and constant threat of attack from people who have their own interests at heart and would love to have a hastily assembled special vote that confused people.

i dunno, it freaks me out.

i'm gonna scream that rant when i introduce my next metal song, "relentless and bloody witch hunt"

i'm listening to my four hour halloween mix and i really think it was underappreciated
it's kind of all over the place, but it has so many good songs on it!!

Guys if Brady wins I stand a good chance of losing my job.

Ugh.

I've been worst-casing all morning because three of my conservative relatives have Facebook statuses about "taking back the country" or how Palin in 2012 is next.

oh god
jenny i voted for quinn not because i like him but because i am scared of the alternative if i didn't vote for him
so may the force be with you too

Exactly why I voted for quinn, I still felt queasy about it.

Palin 2012 is simply not going to happen. The GOP won't allow it to happen. It's almost as bad an idea to them as it is to sane people.

but did you know that my halloween mix contained:

* shirelles "baby it's you" because it so plodding and simple that it totally gives me the creeps
* that song that james, donna, and laura palmer's twin cousin sing in season 2 of twin peaks

juuuuust yooooooooouu
aaaaaaanndd iiiiiiiii

(plays guitar that isn't plugged into anything)
(sings into mic that isn't plugged into anything)

in a creepy falsetto that comes out of nowhere

in loooooooooooooooooooooooove

God, this election shit is so, so, so bad. Feingold is the most depressing of all.

But at least I can be proud of Connecticut for resisting the onslaught. Jenny, you should be proud of Deleware too.

Haha, this may show how little I pay attention to certain states, but I didn't realize until last night that Linda McMahon was THAT Linda McMahon. So effing glad that she lost, that batshit crazy family anywhere near politics frightens the hell out of me

I KNOW!

And I'm fairly certain that my father voted for her, of course. I do think the rest of my family supported Blumenthal however.

OMG lol at this:

During her segment, Vince McMahon awoke from a coma after his doctor, Freddie Prinze Jr., informed him that his wife Linda had invested millions in her campaign as she runs for senate. Vince's heart rate elevated more and more as Prince informed him on what was "wrong" with the WWE since he went into a coma.

hey any of you guys who like zola jesus should listen to katie stelmanis if you haven't yet
here is a link to a song http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/Join+Us/18OhsV

My pride re DE is tempered by the sick feeling I have in my stomach re my parents and their despicable politics and the gloating, hateful tirades I'll have to endure at Christmas.

I'm feeling pretty depressed today, homies.

^^^

My office is very very queit today, everyone is testy. Not sure it is all election related, but from the conversations I've heard, most aren't very happy.

i'm scared about what this means for my job too, but in a more roundabout way. if the MAP grant gets eliminated, though, we are beyond the weeds; we're in quicksand.

on a brighter note, i see that there's a good review of "professor" up at the av club

My vote against the recall amendment was for the same reason, exactly, as Amander's.

All the Michigan races I followed went in the toilet, too.

How did the judge races turn out? I guess they weren't really races.

xps No no no no no you guys, there are going to be literally HUNDREDS of new jobs created! Next week! You watch.

amanda, is it going to be on netflix, or should i just man up and buy it?

not sure about netflix now that the relshp with facets is kapow -- if you do decide to buy it, i will write you a personal note when i receive and process your order. (i am the "store manager")

sweet

I still need to see Musician.

Hidden Gems: The Fountainhead in Chicago

that one's on netflix i think

haha i thought that said Hidden Germs

Yeah, I think its actually on my queue, but keeps getting bumped down whenever my wife logs in. She's not nearly as much of a documentary fan as I am.

speaking of, we saw DEMON LOVER DIARY last weekend and it was really good
the nuge even lets out a melodic belch toward the end

hey who was it who discovered can at the halloween party? i can't remember

I find it hard to be too disheartened about the election results given that most of this was widely expected. Like Kenan, I'm finding solace in the fact that kooks like Angle and O'Donnell lost, and that it looks optimistic for Quinn.

i really thought that feingold would squeak by, yet again

My expectations were so, so low that I feel great today.

I hope that the Fountainhead's food has improved.

Yeah, Feingold is a total bummer.

Blind item: Ron Johnson is an ILXor's wife's uncle.

I need to fish for recommendations for watering holes around Lincoln Square. My roller derby queen friend is doing a reading at the Book Cellar tomorrow night, and I'd love to buy her a beer afterward and regale her with tall tales of how awesome Chicago is. She's never been here.

My expectations were so, so low that I feel great today.

Yeah, seems like apart from Rand Paul, most people opted not to elect the candidate who was clearly mentally unstable. So we have a lot of Republicans in the House now. We'll get through it.

Ricochets? Spyners? (lol?)

xp

xp please go to Chicago Brauhaus

i feel better when i don't think about rand paul at all

all the german bars
tiny lounge
even the daily and bad dog are nice when the weather's good (thanks to their patios)

rand paul winning seems like it just has to be some horrible bad dream

I need to fish for recommendations for watering holes around Lincoln Square

It's not one of my favorites, but lots of people like the Huettenbar, which is right across the street from the Book Cellar and serves lots of German beer.

I'm just very happy that Christine O'Douchell (LOL!!!!!!!!!) got dissed pretty hard. Which is pretty sad. I'm sad.

xp - oooh! yes, Tiny Lounge!

I'm just very happy that Christine O'Douchell (LOL!!!!!!!!!) got dissed pretty hard. Which is pretty sad. I'm sad.

I'm sad that she even managed to get 40%. Sad for that 40%, I mean.

I was thinking Brauhaus, too, Kenan, but that's sort of a niche place. Some will find it amusing, some won't. But it is pretty classic Lincoln Square.

I will take all of your suggestions into sincere consideration, and thank you.

we're having cold november rain out there, i hear.

Forget about holding candles for today.

I'm 'bout to go walking.

this twin peaks song is really creepy dudes

have any of you ever gone to a party -- like a party in someone's house -- where there was slow dancing? does this only happen in the movies/tv? i have never experienced this.

I don't even recall seeing that in movies/TV.

really? i feel like this is something like when people fall into quicksand: you see it in movies (maybe only in older movies) and it doesn't actually happen in real life but is presented as a real possibility

I saw it at college house parties, but it was usually just like 1 or 2 reaaaaaaally drunk couples late late into the party when one of them lived in the house and had control over the music.

have any of you ever gone to a party -- like a party in someone's house -- where there was slow dancing?

In 8th grade, I think.

I think slow dancing in general is kind of a dead art. Perhaps not regrettably.

It's this puritanical kind of intimacy, where it's a socially acceptable excuse to get some boobs mashed up against you in public without doing anything dirty.

i've only seen large numbers of people doing formal dances at parties in latin america. not in the us.

Regular dancing is way sexier anyway, esp if done sexily.

no way, not all the time
all kinds of dancing for all kinds of moods

aaaaaaaaaanyway
just wondered if this was a real thing that happens

The Grafton is one of my favorite bars Lincoln Square. Just sayin'

*makes physical note*

I feel horrible today and it has nothing to do with the elections. I would like to vote my stomach virus of of office.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31FT5W70W9L._.jpg

^^Put this on at any party, even a Super Bowl party, and there will be slow dancing.

I deeply love that record. (Even though Hartman badly mispronounces "poignant".)

I feel horrible today and it has nothing to do with the elections. I would like to vote my stomach virus of of office.

:(

Since the Dems won DE, at least you can still masturbate.

"Come and get me, coppers!" *maniacal laugh*

I went to a house party in 8th grade and there was slow dancing. To something off the Top Gun soundtrack, iirc.

That would have to be "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin.

I think "Roni" by Bobby Brown was the slow jam back in my day. Maybe also "One More Try" by George Michael, which still holds up, tbh.

I posted this on my blog but I think this sounds fun even though I can't go:

http://readingunderthevolcano.tumblr.com/

Part interactive theater, part Día de los Muertos festival, part celebration of alcohol: come experience the hot music of Malcolm Lowry's "Under the Volcano" in a 12 hour group marathon reading.

On the Day of the Dead, 1938, Yvonne returns to her husband, a British Consul in Mexico, a year after having left him. His drunkenness intensifies as they spiral downward during their final 12 hours. Bring a pillow.

Saturday, November 6th at noon—High Concept Laboratories—RSVP at RUTVr✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧—tacos and tequila—

Donations to benefit Literacy Works: an adult literacy organization in Chicago.

note: the one time I tried to read "Under the Volcano," I made it <100 pgs, but it sounds fun as an event with drinking and other people reading.

Reminds me of
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/27/100927fa_fact_mead

...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwCDm2nvJiw

Anyone ever eaten at Forever Thai? It's by Nick and Sarah's. I'm there now and it is very weird. Very strange.

I've eaten there a couple of times, it's very mediocre and almost always empty. Why are you eating there?

usually I just get the pad thai, which is, as I said, mediocre, but one time I got some kind of weird curry with undercooked potatos and peanuts, which was worse than mediocre

should have gone to the lincoln lodge and gotten a huge cheap beer and a hobo skillet

My friend has a coupon. Thank god.

Man, I hate it when there's an amazing sounding restaurant on Check, Please! and then it turns out to be in Burbank. Where the shit is Burbank??? And which one of you car owners want to drive out there for dinner?

http://www.chuckscafe.com/

another awesome sunset out my living room window
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1170/5144625808_b907d9ece7.jpg

Pretty!

Hey this Circus show on PBS is pretty neat.

I didn't realize that you live as close to the train as I do. Rumbly, ain't it?

way rumbly
it's like RIGHT out the window

we have a wall of windows that face the red line, basically
it's kind of cool, and featured prominently in Musician (the movie), but does cause problems in basic communication
where did you put the...holdonasecond...sorry i didn't hear you...hold on...HOLD ON...etc

Watching a movie, I have a choice between sitting in front of the desktop computer with headphones and focusing without interruption, or lying comfortably in bed and backing the movie up every five or ten minutes to find out what the last line of dialogue was.

ugh, i hear that
at least you're not trying to ask questions about dinner or xyz to another person

My cat misses a lot of what I say to her, but I assume she would anyway.

Anyone having post work beers tonight?

sounds fun but I don't get back into the city until about 8

Is your commute getting any easier to deal with?

I guess? It was easy during the MLB postseason because I could listen to baseball games when driving home, which was a nice distraction. Yesterday I started an audiobook of Great Expectations, which is really good so far.

I'm going to take care of poor sickie Jeff, who's flying in from LA this afternoon.

Flying while sick sounds miserable.

Yeah, he is pretty much living my nightmare today.

Jenny, I am totally engrossed by the circus show, too. I turned it on in the middle--is it a continuing series? I'm hooked. Almost as good as Frontier Home (Amanda-you need to check it out)

I am currently looking up numerous circus magazines on the interweb (work-related. no really). glad to hear they are making a comeback.

Huberdude is stepping down.

A couple of weeks ago iirc Huberdude stating he was not stepping down.

Huberdude sucks and had no place running the schools anyway.

Jesse, Burbank (and that restaurant) is not all that far from Escapades and/or Toyota Park.

Jenny was the one who asked, not me, but she also asked me to drive her there, so thanks for he info.

Jenny, I will drive you to Burbank on the condition that you go to weird South Side gay bars with me and get tanked.

No deal.

Sounds fun to me. If you want to get tanked, what better place than weird South Side gay bars?

Jenny has seen a couple photos of what is on offer at those bars, so I don't blame her for her reluctance.

xps fuck, sorry I confused your names guys

And again I will rep for the Lithuanian place across the street from Escapades.

Was it wrong for me to be really annoyed by the alderman that was out shaking hands and pushing pamphlets at the Howard station this morning? I mean, come on, I thought surviving through election day gave us a brief respite from that.

haha was it joe moore? dude is gearing up for mayoral run is what i heard

also SO GLAD dumb old huberdude is stepping down
he was NOT QUALIFIED to do that job

Yep, it was Joe Moore.

what i will say for the guy is that he is often outside planting flowers, picking up trash, and talking on his bluetooth phone thingie at like 6:30am in his exercise gear
dude isn't proud, i like that

i don't love him though

also SO GLAD dumb old huberdude is stepping down
he was NOT QUALIFIED to do that job

― The Great Jumanji, (La Lechera), Thursday, November 4, 2010 2:21 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark

Whatever! He is TOTALLY hottttttt.

naomi campbell is also hottttt
why don't we hire her to fix our schools

B/c I don't want to touch her sniz, but I do want to touch Ron's, so that gives him an edge.

I'm just teasing. I don't know what Ron is good at except decoration.

how Ron can be director of decorative sniz-touching and quit fucking up major parts of our city's public services

otm

Someone want to fax me a beer?

I am very bored at work so I was looking at random threads and an old Chicago thread from 2007 popped up. It was weird. kevin and laurel posting regularly, everyone had different names, just ... weird

btw the AP is calling the Illinois governor's race for Quinn, though Brady still won't concede

so

weird

RANDOM THREAD

does the sandbox still exist? those would be some intrsting threads.

I want to read the Sandbox! The ILX Troubles happened right when I went to New Orleans and I want to recover some of those experiences from it.

I'm afraid of reading anything I wrote on old ILX threads.

yeah i'm not really interested in that either
usually at least 10 years has to pass before i'm interested in reminiscing

We'll go dancing in the dark
Walking through the park
reading old ILX threads
and reminiscing

I am, for good or for ill, very capable of becoming nostalgic about shit that happened only a few years ago. But I don't think that includes my own ilx posts. I might be able to become slightly nostalgic about ilx in general, circa 2004 or something.

yeah maybe i would too
i did get nostalgic about the 5 yr anniversary of our halloween party

i also looked through my flickr photos for pictures of myself 5 years ago to see if i had aged
i had

Aw, yer still a little cutie.

patootie

i don't feel bad about it, i just wanted to see if it had happened
and it had
that's ok

aging is good. people who don't age are freaky.

indeed they are
lookin at you nicole kidman

I got surprise drunk last night. I didn't realize when I ordered that first beer that it had 10% alcohol in it. And then I ordered another one. Two beers, and I was messed up. I got spinny and thought I might be sick. Nothing to do from there but go home.

What beer was it?

that loco beer that's like 4 beers?!

Ha, Frank Bruni reviewed that in the NYT a few days ago.

I can't remember the name of what I had. "Trois" something. Now I know it's called that because it's triple strength.

trois pistoles?

that's the one.

I've made that mistake more times than you would think a person of reasonable intelligence would. I'm pretty careful about checking ABV these days. "Session beer" is the vocabulary for the day.

i had this experience on halloween w/bell's expedition stout (which is awesome btw)

Amanda, I've done that too, even with pix from a few years ago. I have dark "age" spots on my face and hands! I think those are mostly from sun damage, but it's still kind of depressing.

Yeah that's my #1 complaint. I'm doing regular scrubbing/exfoliation/peels to try to reduce them. Sun damage freckles on my cheeks have been particularly vexing.

I totally missed the story about Jimi Hendrix having been murdered. I think because it came out right around the time that Michael Jackson died? It's blowing my mind. The claim is that his manager killed him for the insurance, because he owed tons of money to the two worst people you can owe money to: the IRS and the mafia. The medical evidence of foul play is waist deep. For instance, his lungs were full of wine, but there was very little alcohol in his blood stream. That's some crazy shit.

kenan

please don't add conspiracy theories to your repertoire

lol

also this is the first I have heard of the "Jimi was murdered" theory

It's not that crazy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/5869491/Jimi-Hendrix-murder-theory-plausible-says-ER-doctor.html
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6625403.ece

It's difficult to imagine someone drinking a dozen bottles of red wine with such voraciousness that they become covered in it, and inhale it into their lungs. The evidence points to his having been waterboarded to death.

That Times story definitely makes it sound plausible though “all the elements of [Wright’s] story could be true, but it’s difficult to check” is pretty otm and "it would be a bizarre fantasist who would fabricate such an appalling story, about people he was close to, just to sell a book" is kind of lol.

My boss just told me that it is snowing furiously in SW Michigan.

Btw, Kr and I are attending the Koval Distillery tour next Sunday (the 14th).

Learn about our process of distilling, historical facts on making liquor and get to taste our spirits. The tour begins at the distillery, then a short walk (or drive if you choose) through our beautiful neighborhood to In Fine Spirits where we sample our white whiskey and liqueur.

Space is limited for each tour, so please submit a reservation to to✧✧✧@kovaldistill✧✧✧.c✧✧.

Tickets for the tour are $10 (cash only) per person. Tour and tasting last approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.

http://www.koval-distillery.com/

tours AT kovaldistillery DOT com

Oh, and it's at 3 PM.

Wait, I think Koval has that e-mail wrong.

Surely it should be koval-distillery.com, since that's their web domain.

ANYWAY.

i finally went to the doctor and she gave me some ambien and i plan on settling in tonight for a long night of SUPER MEGA INTENSE SLEEP with SUPER EXTRA EXCITING dreams.

i'll be disappointed with anything less, frankly

I had a super crazy dream last night which seemed long and nonsensical, but I visited a paradise-like village there which was supremely beautiful. I love dreams about visiting fantastical places.

oh, thread folk, can this really be the end--to be stuck inside of Chicago with the booze-breath blues again?

And yeah um okay Market Place is a waaaaaaaaaay rad place to shop for your provisions!

Jesse would def disagree with you there.

I trust Kevin John Bozelka.

is ambien supposed to make me feel like i'm gonna totally barf the next morning?
because i did sleep, but this is a pretty crummy payoff.

I just slept for over 13 hours. To celebrate, I am having a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. So we may soon feel exactly the same way.

Ambien made me feel pretty awful, but I react oddly to most sleeping pills anyway, in that they make my body very dopey but ramp up my mind so I'm lying there in bed all night half in and out of sleep while my mind is projecting non-stop frenetic images at me so I can never really go all the way to sleep. Blech.