Chicago: customers are advised to allow extra travel time

Apparently Reflections is called Brendan's now.

This New Young Pony Club record is much better than it has any right to be.

As long as you're talking about publishing, maybe y'all can help me out on this cross word...what's a kind of binding that allows a book to open flat? WI???D??

sometimes i wonder if leaf is selling out a little bit b/c he's leaning toward corporate law. but then again, i have heard his reasons for wanting this work & i think they are solid & totally just (too long to go into here). on the other hand, his first choice at his new job is to work with wind farms & getting them set up. his second choice is trademark & copyright law.

i just say all this, nick, because i was feeling unsettled about leaf's work a little bit but there are ways to go about making more money while still doing good things. as a friend of mine once said, "the revolution needs funding too."

wow jordan. i have no idea other than "spiral".

Wire-O, or some variation. It could be a specific trade name, though, as I think "Wire-O" is.

Leif's doppleganger (my friend Tom) is already a corporate lawyer. Weird.

Brendan's! By golly, I think that's dive bar numero dos. Thanks, E. I hereby second the recommendation for that one.

Town Hall Pub is okay. It's a Grateful Dead bar and juke box is kind of jam band nightmare, but it's nice to sit at the bar and the bartenders are pretty cool. It's also the post-Playground show bar of choice for the improv set.

Yeah, I would bet that it begins "WIRE..." -- no idea what the rest is.

how is he leaf's doppleganger? do they have somewhat parallel lives or did you think that leaf looked like tom when you met him?

Nick, write that down for the definitive bar guidebook.

xp - what I said, not what John said. Unless you think it's germane. It is, after all, your book.

Umm comb binding, wire binding, double wire, spiral, spiral-O, Wire-O, twin-loop, double loop, coil, are all minor variations on the same thing...but none of them fit the puzzle. :(

It's also the post-Playground show bar of choice for the improv set.

That's the context in which I've been there. Isn't it also known for hosting crazy, jam-packed Flosstradamus sets?

How much does seal-clubbing pay? What are the benefits?

I'm pretty sure it's an independent contractor, piecework set up.

1099, strictly

you have to really love the work

did you think that leaf looked like tom when you met him?

Very much so, plus the law school thing.

Apparently it is "wire edge"

Fuck this puzzle, it's way too hard for me to do in spare moments at work.

I was going to suggest "wire edge" but when I googled it I found not one printing/binding reference, actually it was all florist talk from wrapping stems in wire-edge ribbon and stuff like that.

Seems like bad puzzle making.

I hate bad xword answers, where when you finally get you're like "seriously? That sucks."

Benefits for seal-clubbing made me think of Kelsey's drawing of the seal or walrus or whatever saying "I'll just roll it into my 401K."

ha! it was a seal who found a peppermint candy on the ground. his name was Mr. Whiskers. He decided to not eat the candy & roll it into his 401K instead.

good memory, john! i don't know why i love that drawing so much.

i wanna see!

goo goo gjoob

Chicago, I love your tacos, less impressed by your blue line and taxi lines.

Sarah got sent home. Whoop. I will hopefully leave work soon too.

the drawing, kenan? i don't know if i have it anymore!

Before saying anything about it, I looked to see if you had scanned it and posted it on your Flickr.

that's really too bad. :(

where did you have tacos, ed?

It might be packed away. I really hope I didn't get rid of it...

in other news (n & s might want to cover your ears): my new laptop came today! it is soooo cute!!

Passedito on ashland.

what kind?

another of my friends got a new laptop yesterday, too... it sounds like a monster of processor/memory, and I am envious.

Passedito on ashland.

oh hell yeah... i used to live around the corner from that place, and ate there all the time. A+.

i went with the macbook over the pro but did a couple of upgrade options.

i can't play with it until tomorrow evening though b/c we're driving to rochester after work so leaf can run a 1/2 marathon tomorrow!

I'm dying to run again. Foot injuries suck.

jenny or jeff (or if anyone else knows this neighborhood)...is there a place i can go get parking permits from somewhere on belmont? i feel like i've walked past a sign near ann sathers that says 'parking permits have moved to this other place' with an address, which i assume is the alderman's office, or something?

my parking lot is already mostly flooded, and i can imagine it getting worse this weekend, so want to be able to street park if i have to. but the stupid city of chicago site tells me to go to cicero or something.

sorry, i am rambling. i just woke up. unemployment doesn't suit me.

What happened to your foot, Jeff?

Also Nick, what do you guys do about cat hair + wood floors? Vacuum?

I don't know. Two days after my run last Saturday I got this bad pain on the right side of my right foot. It go progressively worse until I went to the doctor on Tuesday. X-rays showed that nothing was fractured or broken, but it continues to hurt every step I take. I have a podiatrist appointment on Monday.

I've never gotten parking permits, I think Jenny got some one time.

when I used to live in boystown I got my parking permits at city hall, but there should be a place in boystown, too.

Colette, the alderman's office is 1057 W Belmont. you should be able to get permits there.

Man! I went to the grocery store and when I got back all 3 attorneys went out to lunch without me!! Just me and the dog here.

:*(

Amanda, what time will you be at OT's?

thanks, horseshoe! hopefully i can beat the rain there...

Is it weird to warm up a cold latte w/regular coffee?