Chicago: customers are advised to allow extra travel time

Attn. Kevin, I will be dogsitting a weiner dog over Labor Day week. I don't really want to but this girl has catsit for me one million times, so it's karma.

hooray big dicks!

That's a nice last post of the day for me. Off to the gym!

i'm going to reckless on milwaukee to sell some more 7"s so i can buy cigarettes and groceries. some good stuff will (hopefully) be in the used bin tonight or tomorrow:

sebadoh - skull b/w punching myself in the face publicly, repeatedly and plate o' hatred. sub pop. first song on the b side is basically a mash note from jake lowenstein to a girl he persued from boston to louisville. plate o' hatred is a great non-album track. i should burn this to my laptop before i trade it.
tennessee tearjerkers - chills & fever b/w i want you. on brown sound. on this version of the tearjerkers jack oblivian is backed up by t. money and bubba bonds (who have been in a ton of good memphis bands) and margaret garrett from mr. airplane man. hand numbered, #78 of 500.
dirtbombs - merit b/w mystified. on kapow! electric blue vinyl, mystified is a cover of a romantics song.
functional blackouts - raw dog, raw deal. on wrench records. imported record from london for a band that lives in the neighborhood. sounds like every other functional blackouts song.
stepehn malkmus - discretion grove b/w sin taxi. on matador. still sealed! bought this when it first came out, me and towga bought them independently of each other and it appears we never opened mine.
malkmus - jo jo's jacket b/w open and shut cases. on domino. i guess the b-side was non-album track? who cares?
the shins - so i say b/w when i goose step. on sub pop. picture disc. never played because picutre discs ruin turntables. for a long time this was hung on the door to me and jen's music closet. pretty picture disc of penguins.
the mistreaters - stranded. on big neck. four songs from milwaukee sleaze rockers the mistreaters. kevin mistreater runs dusty medical record, the label that gave you the black lips live at wfmu, the goodnight lovin' lp, and most of the great pop 7"s by the slew of amazing bands coming out of milwaukee right now.
doug martsch - 5 on 3/untitled. split 7" on the home recorded cassette culture label. from 1994? most intricate packaging for a 7" i've ever seen. limited release, can't remember how many but 100 or 300 sounds right.
scud mountain boys/steve westfield & the slow band - television/sittin' on the bottom of the world. chunk records. smb's was joe pernice's band prior to pernice bros., as of 3 years ago he was still doing this one live and it's still one of my favorites ever. steve westfield is a western mass legend, this version of the slow band was fellow western mass residents lou barlow, murph, and jim joe greedy. this is more folky, alt-country rock. i preferred his more punk informed work with the pajama slave dancers.
orangutang - bigger chunk. on demigod. on clear orange vinyl. i've had this since college, orangutang was one band that i was always willing to try to sneak into a bar to try to see. they put on hellacious shows in boston in the early '90s. tastes change, i listened to it the other night and ... well, not my thing anymore.
kit/deerhoof split - 3 songs by kit (label just says 3 Songs but there are in fact three tracks on their side). get along with little doggies and the forbidden fruit by deerhoof. #2 in the buddy series from narnack records. on clear green vinyl. deerhoof tracks are awesome, if you see this in the bin buy it.

xpost to jordan, there is now a weiner dog in my top 12 on myspace.

I HAVE GOOD ADVICE ON BUILDING CREDIT!!

DAMMIT.

OK--beyond getting a credit card, which is good,

LOVE Scud Mountain Boys. Want.

SHIT--the reason that keeps happening is b/c i have cuticle exfoliator on my nails and it makes it hard to type and I keep hitting the touchpad which was hovering over "submit"....

Anyway. Things like paying late on phone, gas, or most rent do not matter since they don't report to credit agencies. Getting a credit card is good as long as you USE IT and pay on time. Just having it is of no use if you don't use it and pay on it.

BETTER YET: If you go to LaSalle Bank, they have something called something like the Building Dreams (or something Dreams) program. You put down $200, they put that money on hold and issue you a loan for $1000 which is put into a CD. You pay on the $1000 loan for 12 months at a low interest rate (total interest payments for the year are only $18) and you earn a small interest rate on the CD, so you pretty much break even. Payments are only $68 a month and at the end of the year you have build credit (considerably) and you have $1000 in the bank!

This program is better than a credit card because 1. they are an "A" lender, and 2. because personal loans count for more than a credit card (I think) and 3. because the amount is more than you would put on a credit card all at once.

Seriously, it's a GREAT program.

You CAN'T lose.

LaSalle is one of the few banks that offer this anymore because they are obviously not making much money at all on it.

One more perk: because the loan is secured by the funds in the CD, you pretty much can't be turned down for the loan unless you're like under indictment for grand larceny or something.

there has to be a catch

there is not. There is not a catch!

WaMu used to offer this but they stopped a couple months ago in favor of a secured credit card program b/c they were not making money on it. USBank offers it too. It's a really good program. I learned about it on...the Motley Fool? One of those. A reputable website.

USBank offers it too.

Oh, awesome.

I'm checking some sports tables, and apparently there is a prize-winning Thoroughbred named ... Scat Daddy.

I take it you bank there, so I'll tell you--if you check into this, you may have to talk to a manager. I talked to a rep a few months ago and then went back to check into it again later and the next rep didn't know about it, so I talked to her supervisor who did. But still I wound up going to LaSalle after all since I knew a banker there. His name is S3@n and he's really easy to talk to--he works at the one at State and Madison.

I just remembered, it's called the Dreams Begin loan.

At the risk of professing ignorance (like that's stopped me before), does it matter what bank you do it through? I guess I assumed that you had to do it with your own bank.

jvc, they bought everything i brought in (for a song ;_;) so check the store on milwaukee tonight or tomorrow.

reposted from myspace via my friend eric (who jenny, jeff, and courtney met after the cornhole tourney):

Lots to do.

Wednesday, August 8th:
*Terrible Twos, Frustrations and Hot Lips Messiah @ Town Hall Pub in Boystown
*Screaming Yellow Zonkers (SYZ) 7" Release Party @ Delilah's in Lincoln Park

Friday, August 10th:
*The Shoes are playing for free @ Millennium Park! Holy shit! Starts at 5 PM!
*Containers, Horse Operas and Gran Tu Molani @ Hotti Biscotti in Logan Square. Overlooked & outtasite experimental spazz! Head over there after the Shoes show!
*Or you could go see MOTO, the Handcuffs, Team Band and Penthouse Sweets @ the Abbey Pub!

Saturday, August 11th:
*I'm throwing drinks in your face all day at Jake's: Noon to 8 p.m. Jukebox goes bye-bye and we all say hello to hangover-helping '60s bubblegum.
*Wax Museums, Bold Ones, Krunchies and Catburglars @ Ronny's

Sunday, August 12th:
*Cal's-Fest Day Show @ (Duh) Cal's. Featuring Headache City, Mannequin Men, Wax Museums, Dials, Romance Novels and the Yolks
*Why not come to Jake's Pub for that nightcap, fuckface?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za5t5BwO0bQ

this makes me laugh, the stuff they're bitching about is a ton better than anything they play now. or played then, apparently.

John--at the risk of boring everyone with my credit-building evangelizing, it doesn't matter which bank you use, but I was familiar with this guy at LaSalle and he was the one who first proposed it to me, plus USBank folks were only vaguely aware that they even offered that "product." (It's always so weird to me when banks call the various loans and accounts they offer "products." They seem more like services to me, though I guess by the definition I learned in some econ. class, aren't exactly that either.)

hi dere, i was just reworking my resume and realized i've been sending out THE WRONG FUCKING ONE FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS. So everywhere I've applied since i got back from san diego was working under the impression that i've been unemployed for the past two years.

i really really wish i had some brown liquor in my house right now.

Eeek!

I'm sending you brown liquor vibes....

thanks jesse, i freaked out for about 5 minutes, threw some stuff around my apartment (which was helpful as it was mainly dirty laundry and now it's all in one pile), and cranked out a new resume. the important thing for me is that i caught it before i sent this one out. i have a lead on a job at rush which is near my house. the woman who is helping to choose the candidates is the current holder of the position and my friend tom's ex-wife. i spoke with her this evening and she told me what to highlight on my resume and shared with me that there is only one other qualified candidate for the job right now and it closes friday.

now i am going to my refrigerator to remove my last beer, pound half of it, and go outside for a cigarette. i am calm.

Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I did my very first thread connection!

# Who actually uses HANDKERCHIEFS????? COME ON.... [Started by Aja, last updated 43 seconds ago] 8 new answers
# Noses [Started by Alba, last updated 2 minutes ago] 291 new answers

it's too hot to sleep

:-(

still sweating instead of sleeping.

but at least we have this to look forward to.

And if that's not scary enough, there's this diversion too.

I'm in the redwoods tonight.

i long for the days when i could smoke in my own home. it's been years but it's a memory that never fades.

The threats play into the presidential electoral campaign of Hillary Clinton, who has called for restrictive legislation to prevent America being "held hostage to economic decicions being made in Beijing, Shanghai, or Tokyo".

Hmm. I would imagine that the reaction of many or most voters would be "Huh?" It's not the sort of thing you hear very much about on nightly news reports on elections.

2. Do the English really spell "decisions" that way? I thought I was up on all my Anglo spellings.

3. You can't smoke in your own home??

It's like Camelot around here these days what with the only raining at night.

I just checked the forecast--not so good :( Highs are only gonna be a couple degrees cooler than in New Orleans each day for the next 10 forecasted. Though, our "Real Feel" is lower b/c of the wind; a couple of days the Real Feel is actually lower than the actual temperature despite the steamy humidity.

Kill kill kill. The A/C is broken in our building and we have no fans and inoperable windows. It's already like a sauna in here, this is some bullshit.

Our power went out once last summer and it was hell. We tried to sleep on our living room floor because it was slightly cooler up there but everyone else on the block was hanging out outside, yelling and screaming, so not only was it hot, it was loud.

I like P3nthouse Sw33ts.

I wish our server would crash. That would be awesome.

Haha, there are many days I hope for that.

Recommend Sarah and I something to do tonight that is:
a) air-conditioned
b) free or very cheap
A standby is to go to Barnes & Noble and read magazines, but we both have lots of library books to read right now so I would rather read those than magazines.

What I'm reading right now:
http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780670038374

you can go to the library! I love the library.

this is how I feel about all the ilx dudes:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lkEUvpvRErA

haha

That was pretty funny.

I really have no desire to be in the office today. I am tempted to just get the basics done and check out early, but the problem is I don't know what I would do after that. It's too hot in our apartment to hang out there, and I can't really spend any money. What I really want to do is leave and go see a movie, but that's way too pricey.

Sarah - do you want to go see Transformers at the Logan tonight? It's air-conditioned...

Surely you have budget theaters in Chicago?

Have you been to the Evanston library? It's pretty great. They have TONS of movies there. You can take out books as long as your CPL card is current.

books/movies/cds, i mean.
they have teevee series too! the selection is more organized and a better bet than the HWL.

it's not hard to be better than the HWL

Oh the HWL is great. But checking out movies there is dumb if you don't work downtown because you have to return them to the same branch. We checked out a History Channel special on the plague the other day from the Wicker Park branch, but it kind of sucks.

it's kind of a badly organized library. But I do like the big space on the top floor with the giant skylight and stuff.

This made me lol a whole lot last night. It's a French pop video!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FUVagbFcSUU