Chicago: White Glogg

A friend who bartends at Simon's writes:

New this year at Simon's: white glogg. Made with white port, pears and pear brandy.

Love that MCA bookstore. Also, the orange couch there is pretty comfortable for extended reading.

from the defunct thread....
I went to the MCA once, but only for a New Zealand wine tasting. It's going on the list.

Finally went to the Art Institute last spring. The Matisse show was just plain amazing.

The MCA is great. One of my favorite exhibits there was on Tropicalia.

I went to that one too! I took my group of Chinese visiting professors there when I did that weird job like 4 years ago. There was a big photography exhibit with a LOT of nudity (maybe it's permanent? I dunno) and it was fun to watch them react to it.

permanent exhibit, not permanent nudity
permanent nudity in chicago is next level torture

I was part of an MCA exhibit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySMKfHEpRh4

lookit you guys

Hahaha so embarrassing.

contemporary art!

I saw a good Annie Leibovitz exhibit at Sydney's contemporary art museum; wonder if it'll travel.

haha. did they provide the electronic drums?

hey guys, where should i eat dinner near the whistler tomorrow?

Lula is pretty close.

Also Revolution Brewing and my personal favorite taqueria, Moran

(I am not calling you a Moran, that is really the name. We have made this joek b4!)

hey no need to call people names!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
</dad joke>
xpost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lolololololololllll;;;;

some friends that will be at the show suggested revolution brewing, i think they're going to go there.

that place looks great, if excessive.

one more question, what's parking like around there? ramps/lots?

parking isn't too hard, you could probably park in front of the building iirc

don't know if RB has a lot but in general it's going to be street parking all around Logan Sq. Meters run til 9.

there's also a parking lot behind the Vas Foremost liquor store, but I dunno if they tow.

word, i will bring quarters, thanks.

the machines take credit cards!

Revolution Brewing is A+ and you should go but be prepared to wait if you're going during peak dinner hours.

xp - quarters are faster and don't require using a credit card

probably a wait at Lula too

though maybe not if you're by yourself, they have a little bar

i'm probably going to get there super early because i don't want to cut it close/get caught in traffic. i'll find a coffee shop and hole up for a bit; looks like the closest ones are new wave and, uh...cafe mustache?

the machines take credit cards!

but can the machines be trusted

New Wave is a big place, great for holing up.

Also for eating, there's:
http://longmanandeagle.com/

* * *

With Groupon, do you guys get frustrated like I do trying to scan the basics of a deal and having to read through a bunch of dumb jokes?

FYI I have never once paid for parking in that area. Side streets are your friend.

yes i do get frustrated by groupon and i also i don't use it very much after i had an interesting convo with a restaurant owner friend (not in chicago) comparing it to graft. it was an interesting conversation.

Tell me more.

A restaurant person in town pointed out that, for a business, it can be like a cash advance on a credit card -- a big pile of money the day of the sale, but one that can end up being paid at a loss over time.

On the other hand if, say, the Chicago Symphony had a Groupon deal in lieu of $25,000 to design and rent a billboard, and it didn't eat into their audience buying full-price tickets, and, like a billboard, it pulled in a brand-new audience who otherwise would never set foor in the door, then it just has the same risks as advertising. But that's performing arts, where the same show happens for a theater that's 30% full or 100%.

We used a Groupon for Raw Bar with some friends over the weekend and the four of us were pretty convinced that the "market price" for the seafood was definitely inflated because we were using the Groupon (based on the prices during a previous visit).

I've never used Groupon, nothing I've seen has ever appealed to me that much.

Still kicking myself for dropping the ball on the most recent Bonsoiree Groupon.

The one I regret was something like $40 in groceries at Fox & Obel for $20.

well he has a small craft cocktail + fancy comfort food type place and said that groupon basically told him that this (offering deep discounts via special offers via their service) is how to get butts in seats in 2010 and not to do it is to risk losing business to restaurants that do. i mean, i realize this is salesguy talk circa forever, but still. it sounded pretty grave.

I got one for American apparel I need to use. New hoodie time!

I would think it depends a lot on your business. I actually don't really understand why a place like Bonsoiree has offered Groupons at least three times, since it doesn't seem like they have a problem filling tables.

As long as the quality/service doesn't slide, it may be the 2010 equivalent of PR -- people come, they write about it, they know about it, they recommend it (like you've done with Bonsoiree).

I'm apparently in the minority, but I like Groupon's comedy jokes.

I have purchased 7 Groupons or Youswoops and I love them.

Fuck American Apparel.

the impression i got from my friend is that they are indeed great for customers, less great for the businesses but hey, butts in seats and info about your restaurant delivered to x thousands of emails.

I got one for American apparel I need to use. New hoodie time!

Yay for hoodies but major boo for American Apparel.

Greatest Groupons/Swoops, and effectiveness of my becoming a repeat customer

- Sharply discounted laser hair removal (no more old man ear hairs!!)
-- I would have gone back for another treatment or two at regular price, but the first two that I bought at a discount completely did the job.

- Bon Soiree
-- I will be back.

- Really good discount on Swedish massage
-- Haven't been yet, but it's my first massage ever, so if I like it, I will return.

- The Counter (hamburger place by my house). $30 for $15
-- I probably would have visited eventually, but it got me in the door the first time, and I've been back several times since.

- Aladdin's I forget, but it was a good deal
-- I've been back, but I'm not hooked.

- NORDSTROM RACK! $50 for $25. Got really awesome shoes (Bruno Magli) that were on sale.
-- ?? I go there anyway.

I've also got one for Klay Oven that I'm looking forward to, and one for fitness boot camp.

i'm honestly not exactly sure what a groupon is

omg you guys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm7yAWpX1Mc

*Who is calling whom collect?

*That's a lot.

*Did you know that you cannot place a collect call to a cell phone? (As of my last attempt, October, 2006.)

i called sarah collect twice when our car broke down a month ago because i had forgotten my cell phone at home that day. i knew it would end up being expensive but i didn't know how much and there wasn't much i could do about it.

* That's expensive.

* I'm sorry for your loss.

* Of $6.00.

$12

2 x $6 = $12

* I am currently out $6.00 as well.

* See the story of the Laundry Card.

* Above.

* xp - You win.

The Reader has a sort of interesting story about Groupon's really questionable non-compete agreement. It would have been more interesting if they hadn't stopped using it. http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/groupon-noncompete-clause-prospective-writers/Content?oid=3184622

Their Superbowl ad was jaw-droppingly offensive, but I'm sure that's been discussed elsewhere.

Especially coming on the heels of Kenneth Cole's head-scratchingly offensive Tweet, imo.

I didn't find it that offensive. The majority of other superbowl ads are just as much of not more offensive to me.

I like Kenneth Cole, too. Nice mid-to-upper-mid-range clothing, great shoes (I think I have three pair of Kenneth Coles), and my best winter coat is from them. The zipper wore out after one year, I replaced it with this bad-ass no-foolin-around brass zipper, and it's still a fantastic coat down to about 10 degrees.

xp Fair point.

Today, though, it's all about the ol' Carhartt.

Which used to be Jeff's. I don't wear it often enough to have worn it out. This thing will get me through many another zero-degree day.

So I guess I did find it offensive. Just not the most offensive on the offensive continuum.

As I mentioned elsewhere, this was the first year that I was actively offended by a majority of the ads. The Groupon ones were the worst, but I also thought the ones with a guy trying to get a dog to run into a glass door, the one with a woman throwing a soda can at another woman and knocking her unconscious, and the one where they were flinging babies into a glass wall.

There was a lot of violence. I blame the NFL's crackdown on hard hits. It had to come out somewhere.

xxp Now I have "Many a New Day" from Oklahoma stuck in my head.

That carhartt coat was never warm enough for me. My current one is good down to -40.

Are you kidding? I mean, you need a good sweater, granted, because there's a bit of leak in the front, but this thing is mad, mad warm.

Nothing in the Super Bowl broadcast was more offensive to me than the reading of the Declaration of Independence before kickoff. What the fuck do we have the 4th of July for? I put all of it on the game being on Fox.

I put all of it on the game being on Fox.

Oh yeah, the whole thing was ridiculous.

they should have read the communist manifesto, like they do before MLS games

I get very cold, very easily. So I bought the best sub zero coat that ll bean had. And I look very stupid in it because it's so puffy.

then had a bearded woman play the internationale on a bazouki as a flock of pigeons was released to fly over the crowd

Nah, trotting out the world's smallest horse is more MLS's style.

I had a dream this morning that two horses loved me and one followed me into an elevator, but got its hoof caught in the door, breaking its leg. This caused it to have epilepsy, but the horse loved me so much that though each seizure caused it agony in its broken leg, it felt ecstasy b/c the pain reminded it of its love of me.

The horse was orange, like a tabby cat, and I held its head while it shook and it kept telling me it loved me.

There would have been better ways to start my morning.

I know others' dreams are boring. But this one was exceptional.

Bad dream breaks thread.

Here's a pic of a kitty and a horsey!

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Qogq3ys5M8M/S3x_NV-w1sI/AAAAAAAACRk/giKmofBZxss/cat-horse-3.jpg

David Bianculli.

NO WAY
I always imagined it Biencooley Or Bien-Cooli. I can't believe this!

Major class today, we talked about ebonics and what it was like to be a lesbian in 1987

Like being a lesbian in 1988, only more/less so?

my weather widget shows a balmy 36 degrees for saturday and 41 degrees for sunday, and sun the rest of the week

Was hoping for a slightly more gradual warm-up. All this melting snow is going to be a huge mess.

i'm pretty sure melted snow is just water

If it means I can access my car, I'll take it.

I haven't gotten enough snow this past week, so I'm going home for Winter Carnival this weekend.

xp Without shoveling, that is.

i'm pretty sure melted snow is just water

Its sometimes hard to tell whether you are being snarky or kind of a dick when you post like that. I'm referring to the fact the water equivalent of 20+ inches of snow has to go somewhere and, considering that some of the roads around here flood when we get 4 inches of rain in a day, we could be in for a mess.

i'm just being silly

i can be a dick on other threads but i think on the Chicago thread you can assume i'm just joking light-heartedly if i say something like that

I'm just awful at reading snarkiness in short posts without enough context.

You start to look at huge drifts of snow a little different when you have to worry about your basement/crawlspace flooding when it all melts.

jaymc if all goes according to plan I'm bringing back one of these guys, you can borrow it if you want

http://icons-ecast.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/d/DCMaki/364.jpg

also on the list to bring back: gaiters, snowshoes

for the next time this past week's weather happens

Will the Yooper Scoop be any match for packed down snow and ice?

I was hoping that when we left for NOLA it would be bitterly cold, but as long as my flight isn't delayed, I will take any kind of weather.

xp the ones I grew up using were fine busting up large plowed up banks that had sat and frozen for a few days

and generally packed down snow* is best because they need something to slide on, I ain't buying no wheel kit unless I have to

*the correct term for this is "panked" snow

hey does anyone want to go see the church with me on friday?
please?

msg me if you wanna go
you have to hang out with me but honestly, i won't even make you talk with me if you don't want to
i just don't want to waste this ticket

I cannot. That is probably no surprise to you, but I would actually consider it if I could go.

hi amanda

sorry i was flustered at TJs yesterday. i was dealing with an unhappy baby and trying to get home ASAP. it was nice seeing you.

- nick

hi nick

no prob bob -- being at that place always kinda stresses me out too. i am glad i could direct you to the pine nuts.

--amanda

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