just another blog

A summer of gardening

2008-08-17T14:30:00.001-07:00

In June of this past year, I took over the front garden in my building. The circumstances surrounding my taking on this project were bitter. My back neighbor, who had previously taken care of the gardening sadly died at his own hands earlier this summer. He was a troubled man who always took solace in gardening, so I felt that someone had to keep it up, and well, I like gardening, so I offered.

I got a late start this year because I didn't get the garden until June, and while my neighbor enjoyed gardening, he wasn't that good at it so I had to start by pulling up a lot of the weeds he had painstakingly cultivated. Also, I didn't have much money to really take it on (I didn't realize how expensive it could be), so my garden was a progress this summer. My windfall happened today when I was able to transplant a whole bunch of Hostas to the front from the back because our fence is being replaced.

I'm looking forward to all my hard work this year really paying off next summer, when all of my perennials come back after having had a year to settle in (hopefully this winter won't be too harsh).

Wall Decals!

2008-08-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I found some unused wall decals at a garage sale for a few buck and took them home. I experimented with three in my kitchen and plan to put the rest up this week.

The farmers market

2008-06-29T08:00:00.001-07:00

100_0668
Originally uploaded by Vittrad

So I bought this fresh garlic at the farmers market this morning. I'm a bit scared of it.

It's officially over $4 a gallon here

2008-05-05T19:30:00.001-07:00

I'm so glad I got rid of the car (the gas station is 1/2 a block from my apartment).

Donna's Aquatic Pet Shop AND Lee's Seafood

2008-04-11T06:50:00.001-07:00

Donna's Aquatic Pet Shop AND Lee's Seafood
Originally uploaded by Fuzzy Gerdes

What I love about this photo from my old neighborhood is that the pet fish store and the seafood shop have the SAME PHONE NUMBER.

...and apparently, judging from the comments, I wasn't the only one who noticed this.

The Raveonettes - Ally Walk With Me

2008-03-05T18:19:00.001-08:00

I love this song, and this album.

More Snow

2008-02-26T15:32:00.001-08:00

This time from my parents' place.

Conan Fights Stephen Colbert and John Stewart: The Brawl

2008-02-18T20:44:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know this is old news, but I still think it is funny, and need a place to store it so I can watch it whenever I'd like.

Ice Scupture

2008-02-17T17:02:00.001-08:00

In another example of embracing our God awful weather, Chicago has installed some ice-sculptures in Millennium Park. I wonder if they are still there after yesterday and today's rain storms.

Seriously, just do it.

2008-02-14T12:52:00.000-08:00

Yet another picture from my neighborhood.

Domes aren't just for stadiums

2008-02-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

After the weather we've been having these past two weeks. I'm beginning to think these guys might be on to something.

(taken today by AbitraryMarks on flickr)

Northern Wisconsin is cold in Februrary (duh) ...

2008-02-10T17:41:00.001-08:00

...so naturally I had to go there.

I traveled up north with a friend a week ago and somehow found myself in a knock-down, drag-out game of Broomball. And I scored two points!

Save the Montrose Sink-Hole??? (When preservation movements run amuck)

2008-01-29T15:29:00.000-08:00

Who would have ever thought that there would be a movement to preserve a sink-hole. Well, there is.

Below is a picture of the giant sink-hole that appeared about a week ago on Montrose street (taken by theerielly).

Since then, the sinkhole has somehow 'created' a myspace page and has developed a loyal following who claim to be 'fighting' for its preservation.

Granted, it is mostly a joke, but you know someone somewhere is taking it seriously.

That is all

2008-01-21T09:02:00.001-08:00

winter is fired
Originally uploaded by brantastic

The apocalypse is upon us

2008-01-20T12:44:00.001-08:00

Redux Beverages announces a new energy drink.

... it is now only a matter of time.

I made a bracelet tonight

2008-01-07T20:50:00.001-08:00

Christmas

2008-01-04T18:36:00.000-08:00

So here are a couple of pictures of my niece, the most photogenic of the bunch. Her 'opening presents philosophy' was basically that she was to open all presents, regardless of who they were for, which led to a few quizzical looks when 'she' received things like flatware and infused olive oil.

2007-12-17T08:17:00.001-08:00

I don't have many decent pictures from my trip to New England, so I just thought I'd post this one from my trip to my Uncle's friend's alpaca farm in western Massachusetts. I did eventually pet the thing, but it took me awhile to get over my nervousness.

Off to New England

2007-11-19T07:53:00.000-08:00

I'm off later this week to spend Thanksgiving in New Hampshire and for good measure posted a picture of the lovely White Mountains where, if the weather is nice, I'm going to try and arrange to take a drive up there. I'm also looking forward to visiting my cousins, eating lots of fresh seafood and hopefully getting into Boston for the day if we can.

While there, I will go to the Lobster Boat and have a lobster roll (which basically consists of lobster meat tossed with mayo on a toasted bun) in memory of my grandmother, who loved this particular restaurant, and this particular dish .... I have fond memories of her stating firmly that they were 'the best lobstah rolls evah", I'm not sure that is the case, I've had some I like better, but I still feel obligated to eat there. It may not be the fanciest dish in the world, and to my Midwestern mind, it seems an insult to the lobster to serve it on a simple white toasted roll with mayo, but for many years, in that part of the country, lobster meat was not considered fancy fare (and to a certain extent, it still isn't), so it is entirely appropriate. Hell, you can even get the lobster roll at McDonald's in Maine (now whether or not you'd want to is an entirely different question, but you can, and I have). Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to this short jaunt away for the holidays. It is always fun seeing that part of my family, and meeting new relatives I never knew that I had (they are scattered all up and down New England and whenever I go out there with my mom they seem to somehow get wind of this and show up to see my mom).

bagels on the 'el' tracks

2007-10-31T21:40:00.001-07:00

Not quite sure how they ended up down there, but there you have it.

It certainly amused me on my way to work.

DUMBO arts festival mug shot

2007-10-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

I went to the DUMBO arts festival in NYC a couple of weeks ago and had my mug shot taken. I didn't actually heckle any performance artists there ... but was utterly horrified by the girls dancing in the East River. You couldn't pay me enough to swim/dance/or do much of anything that would involve submerging myself in the East River.

Me versus the rat … Round 2, 3, and 4

2007-10-08T09:16:00.001-07:00

Friday - Round 2

… I’m not sure that I’m winning. Friday night, as I mentioned the rat stole the materials I used to block up its hole, and then got into a tin of pasta that I have, and proceeded to throw dry tortellini all over my kitchen while I slept. It then unceremoniously dumped over the tin of rat poison I left out for its consumption.

Score –

Rat – 2

Me – 0

Saturday – Sunday – Round 3

I wake up to see the rat running around my kitchen, I yell, chase it with a broom, and it disappears. The building super comes over and puts a metal plate over the hole, we look for other possible entry points in my apartment and fine none. I clean up the tortellini, wipe down all kitchen surfaces again with bleach. I don’t see the rat again for a day and overnight.

Rat – 3

Me – 1

Sunday – Monday – Round 4

Convinced (erroneously) that the rat is gone, I casually go to bed without doing my dishes … around 1am I hear noises coming from the kitchen. Bleary eyed, I go out there to discover the tin of rat poison has been dragged across the kitchen and it appears that some of it has been eaten. Annoyed and disgusted, I do up my dishes at 1:15am wipe down my counters again. Meanwhile, I hear the rat scratching and scuttling around behind the stove. I bang on the stove a couple of times out of disgust, but realizing there is nothing I can do at this point, I go to my room, close the door, and go back to bed, hoping the rat will just gorge itself on rat poison, as I have completely removed all other sources of food anywhere in my home. I wake up Monday morning and the rat poison has not been touched, but I see no sign of the rat ….

…. The saga continues.

Rat – 4

Me – 1

I don’t like how this is going.

You! Out of my kitchen!

2007-10-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

For the past several days, I've been battling this little (or not so little) bugger that has decided to take residence somewhere in my home. I found the hole and the apartment maintenance guy blocked it up pretty good (my temporary solution of a brick with some rags stuffed around it didn't work, the rat just stole the rags). I'm not entirely sure it is gone, but I hope so. I have completely wiped down my kitchen with bleach and set out some rat poison (there is something sinister about the act of going to the hardware store and asking "so where is your rat poison"). The battle is on ... and I will win.

.... and for those who must ask, yes, I know the difference between a mouse and a rat, I wish it were a mouse.

Not as exciting as the UK but ...

2007-09-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

At the end of the month I'll be visiting the ever so glamorous Greenpoint Brooklyn again (oh and I might even make it over to that other island ;))

email I got from the CTA

2007-08-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

I got this email today from the CTA. So basically, if I don't use their little plastic card, then the cost of taking the train during rush hour will essentially double, making the Chicago trains some of the most expensive in the country. When the hell is this country going to wake up and fix public transportation. Ugh.

" Dear Valued Chicago Card Plus Customer:
Due to insufficient state funding, the Chicago Transit Authority Board recently approved a contingency plan which includes changes to CTA service and fares. Without additional funding, this contingency plan will take effect on September 16, 2007. Customers who pay with cash or Transit Cards and use the CTA weekdays will pay higher fares at rail stations and on buses (depending on the time of day they ride). Fares will also increase for customers who use Chicago Card® and Chicago Card Plus®. Visit www.transitchicago.com to learn more about CTA's 2007 fare changes.
Under this plan, beginning September 16, the fare for Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus customers will increase from $1.75 to $2.00 per ride, and 25Â¢ for a transfer (which allows two additional rides within two hours of issuance), regardless of the time of day . However, the bonus structure currently in place will remain, providing a $2 bonus for every $20 of Pay-Per-Use value added to an account. The cost of a 30-day unlimited Chicago Card Plus card will also increase from $75.00 to $84.00 .
If the fare change goes into effect on September 16, the new $2.00 fare will be deducted from your Pay-Per-Use Chicago Card Plus account. Those who use the Chicago Card Plus 30-day unlimited ride pass, and whose reload occurs on or after September 16, will be charged the new rate of $84.00 on their accounts.
Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus offer the best value for traveling on CTA. Thank you for choosing Chicago Card Plus as your fare payment option.

my new toy

2007-08-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Those of you who have known me for awhile will know that this is just a blue version of the same toy that I had at IU which was stolen.

However, this time I bought a proper lock and a vintage style motorcycle helmet.

Can I tell you how much fun I have driving it around?

2007-07-31T11:20:00.001-07:00

I actually received an email back from Shawn Allee in response to the email I sent a (see below). It was a very sweet email thanking me for caring about the story (and mentioning that it was a story that had been bothering him for days and that he was having trouble getting it out of his head) and he forwarded my email to his editor. When I sometimes write emails like that, I usually don't expect that they are read.

So there you have it, NPR responded to my email.

Me as a Simpson's character

2007-07-31T06:04:00.000-07:00

2007-07-28T05:54:00.001-07:00

Quotes from an article in the paper bemoaning the recent local rabbit infestation

"I saw one recently in a revolving door of a skyscraper in the Loop," said Bob O'Neill, president of the Grant Park Conservancy. "The rabbit had gone in thinking it could enter the building!"

"I saw one in a planter on Ohio Street three blocks east of Michigan Avenue," said Liz O'Callaghan, operations manager at the Chicago Park District. "It stopped me cold. I thought, 'There's a rabbit!' He was sitting there alone, and he wasn't chewing anything.
"Maybe he was waiting for a taxi."

She considers them bullies, and calls them "fuzzy rats." "They're practically man-eating!" she said. "They have no fear. They stare you down in your driveway."

Madelen Fields-Gollogly, a member of the Grant Park Advisory Council, said the only reason the rabbits haven't made it to the roofs is that "the rabbits don't know how to push the buttons of the elevators."

She and others worry that it's just a matter of time.

And you thought they were cute.

2007-07-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

Below is the letter I wrote to NPR this morning after hearing coverage of a murder that took place about 100 yards from my home.

I would like to thank you for Shawn Allee's coverage of this story. I live less than 1/2 block away from where Wilfredo was shot and walked past that playground less than 15 minutes before the shooting Wednesday night, and saw the group of teenagers who were probably involved with the shooting (sadly, I remember no faces or knew none of them, or else I would have gone to the police station when I heard). Tonight on the way home, I passed by the vigil and saw the tearful family first hand. It is a shame to see someone's life ended so senselessly and a painful reminder that even the most gentrified neighborhoods still have disaffected youth who, as was mentioned the owner of the tire shop on the corner, 'fight over street corners'. I've lived in this neighborhood for only four years and for the most part this is a very nice neighborhood and my experiences have been positive, but there is the occasional undercurrent of violence with the continuing gang activity that sadly seems to be a part of the lives of so many youth that is often very apparent on the streets.

Growing up in the economically struggling south-suburbs, I saw this first hand even down there, it made me angry back then and it still does now, especially when it results in children losing their lives. Sadly, this is often ignored and the more cynical part of me wonders if this murder was covered because of the neighborhood in which it occurred (just feet away from the trendy and expensive Division street strip). It does not matter though where senseless violence occurs, it is a tragedy if it happens less than 50 yards away from a boutique that sells $500 dresses or in the most economically depressed and dilapidated neighborhood on the west or south side.

Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot Video

2007-07-14T08:00:00.003-07:00

Last night I watched Sonic Youth perform Daydream Nation in its entirety. Listening to them launch into “Silver Rocket” brought me right back to that night I first hear that song on MTV in 1989 and became a fan. I still count Daydream Nation as one of my favorite albums. The show was incredible, but oddly enough, not quite loud enough (usually when I’ve seen Sonic Youth play, they make my ears bleed, so it took me by surprise that I wanted it to be louder, maybe I’m just going deaf).

Gotham Police Department

2007-07-11T17:29:00.001-07:00

This is the best picture I could get with my cell phone as I rode my bike home past the Batman film set before they started yelling at me for trying to take pictures with my cell phone.

So much for google promising not to be evil

2007-07-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

So this is google's response to the new Moore flick.

"We can place text ads, video ads, and rich media ads in paid search results or in relevant websites within our ever-expanding content network. Whatever the problem, Google can act as a platform for educating the public and promoting your message. We help you connect your company’s assets while helping users find the information they seek."

Lovely, just lovely.

thankfully not my car

2007-06-21T21:58:00.001-07:00

At moments like this, I'm glad I don't have a car. Unfortunately this poor 100 year old tree on my street did not make it.

Being that I didn't have much to do tonight, I watched them take it down. It is now almost midnight and they are still going at it with chainsaws right outside my window, so forget sleeping until they are done.

Hair Cut

2007-05-03T06:13:00.000-07:00

I'm going to get my hair cut here.

Happy May Day!

2007-05-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

2007-04-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

... and so it goes ....

I could only think of two

2007-04-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

I love this bakery.

so a coyote walked into a sandwich shop ...

2007-04-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

A coyote walked into a Quizno's sandwich shop a couple blocks away from where I work and plopped himself in the beverage cooler and just sat there and starred at people (who were just as shocked to see him as he was them) until he was removed.

Isn't he cute? The poor thing must have been terrified.

Riding my bike to work day #3

2007-04-04T10:48:00.001-07:00

I’ve ridden my bike to work for three days (not today, it was cold and I have to take the ‘el’ somewhere after work) and it has gone fairly well. There are a few things though I’ve discovered:

Taxi drivers are idiots, that are just all there is to it. I have begun to understand why bicycle riders hate them so much.
The corner of Grand/Milwaukee/Halsted smells like crap, literally, that is when it doesn’t smell like burnt chocolate.
It is official, it takes ten less minutes to ride my bicycle to work than it does to take the CTA.

The google directions from Chicago to London

2007-03-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

are pretty mundane until one gets to this step:

20.

Swim across the Atlantic Ocean

3,462 mi

You first!

my new bike!

2007-03-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

I feel like a little kid, but I just bought a new bike. It is a folding bike, so this means I can store it easily in my apartment, and fold it up and take it in to work when I get there. I'm going to start to ride my bike to work because the CTA is moving too slow. This also means that this bike stands much less chance of getting stolen, unlike my last two bikes that had to live outdoors and suffered that poor fate.

Dibs

2007-02-16T08:26:00.001-08:00

Dibs
Originally uploaded by wselman.

Just stop it already. Do you guys realize how anti-social this tradition is?

told you I was cold

2007-02-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

The river is freezing, I haven't seen that happen in a few years (no I didn't take this picture, but it was taken just a day or two ago).

I'm cold

2007-02-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

Current Temperature = -1°F
Windchill: -19°F

YouTube and politicians make for a strange mix

2007-02-01T08:40:00.000-08:00

Local elections are coming up, and in reading one of my favorite blogs I came across this hysterical quote that sums up Chicago politics: When Tip O'Neill said "all politics is local," he should have said, "Unless you're talking about Chicago, in which all politics is beyond local into some sort hyper-micro-politics that justifies producing an overly dramatic video about a liquor store."

Apparently aldermanic candidates have discovered YouTube, and trust me, this is a very amusing thing.

However, the last video isn't amusing at all, it is chilling, and a very depressing indictment of 'politics as usual'.

2007-01-27T07:54:00.000-08:00

Pan's Labyrinth is an amazing movie!

I know we are all happy the Bears won but ...

2007-01-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

throwing yourself into to Lake Michigan in the middle of January and having to get the fire department to fish you out is not the best way to celebrate folks.

Hehe.

Brooklyn Brewery Beer hits the midwest

2007-01-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

As I was walking to the 'el' this morning I walked past my favorite liquor store (okay, the last thing I bought there was a dozen eggs, but I digress) and I noticed a sign in the window announcing that they are now selling the aforementioned beer. However, when I went in this afternoon to buy a six-pack, I couldn't find it. I asked the guy behind the counter and he laughed and said incredulously "we sold out in one day, on a Tuesday, do you believe it". And to think, I was almost ready to forgive them for also selling that odious plague on humanity that isn't fit to be used as toilet paper for a rat, The New York Post (which they also started selling not to long ago for some inexplicable reason). I'll forgive them when I can get a six pack of Brooklyn goodness in my grubby paws, but not a moment before.

2006-12-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

This is the best picture of this Christmas, my neice pulling on my nephew's ear.

2006-12-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

We had a bit of snow on my street.

My new scanner

2006-11-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

The picture posted here is the first image I scanned into my new scanner, it is a picture that was taken at the mostly dismanteled heidelberg project in Detroit a few years back. I don't think the scanner is all that great for photographs for the purposes of preservation, but it will serve me well in other projects (getting rid of paper in the form of old school projects I can't quite throw out).

Additionally, I had the family over to my new place on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, forgetting about the Bears/Patriots game which, well, since half the family is from Chicago and the other from Boston, proved to be an interesting time ;)

Me? I really couldn't care less, so I struggled to be a good sport.

2006-11-02T08:04:00.000-08:00

I just got back from new york last night and don’t have all my pictures developed yet, (I had to take some with a point and shoot). Parts of my trip included:

The Halloween parade in Greenwich village

Dog Walking in Alphabet City

PS1 in Queens and the Brooklyn Museum

Having two pigeons take a crap on me in a 5 minute period in the East Village (one of these days I’ll find a way to destroy them all ;)

Staying up until 5am my first night there and then attempting to get up and do sightseeing and the next day, forgoing the notion of sightseeing in Williamsburg upon the discovery that Brooklyn Brewery was open, and meeting two cute guys from Manhattan with the same name.

Getting the best twelve dollar manicure ever that for some reason involved a 15 minute massage.

Discovering how to use the express trains on NYC subway to my advantage.

Getting lost looking for the subway in Fulton Mall in Brooklyn.

Taking pictures with graffitti artists around a warehouse covered with the stuff (see picture published with post)

Going to the Greenpoint Coffee house every morning for 5 days in a row because my host, while a wonderful host in all other respects, failed to understand the depths of my coffee addiction.

2006-10-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

I'm off tomorrow at 12:00pm to the big apple. Wish me luck!

Upcoming Travels

2006-10-16T06:37:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be a bit scarce for the next couple of weeks as I'm doing a bit of traveling both for work and pleasure. I'll be in Indianapolis for a conference for most of this week which will be a nice respite from work (which I need), and then at the end of the following week I'm off to New York my excuse is that "I have to attend a Halloween party" which is probably my most pathetic excuse for visiting New York for the 4th time in the past two years, and yes, I'm staying in Brooklyn again (but a different part this time). I'll probably take some more pictures of New York, but I doubt I'll be taking that many pictures of Indianapolis ;)

And by the time I get back, the elections will thankfully be over.

...I can't wait.

on the poltics of being shot

2006-10-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

Without going into too many details to protect the privacy of the person in question, I know someone (and have known this person more than a few years) whose loved one was rather brutally murdered on the street last week in a seemingly random shooting. He was shot in broad daylight on his own street and left behind children. It is something that has affected me emotionally and has woken me up a couple times at night because I cannot imagine the pain and fears this person, now a single mother, feels.

What really maddens me though is how flippantly such things are addressed in the media if one is seen to be living in an undesirable location or is of the wrong gender or color (this was an African American male living on the south side). This person’s story was regulated to a small blip in the newspaper, there was no follow up, and there will be no follow up about whether or not they’ve caught the perpetrator or why this horrible act even occurred because the story was (and sadly is) seen as being too common to waste the readers time with. Until now I can see why that might be, I’ve never spent too much time reading the accounts of murders such as this in the local paper, but now I’ve thought about this every day, I wonder if they’ve caught this person, I wonder what is going on, and I don’t know how to ask, I can’t ask. You just can’t walk up to someone and ask them ‘so have they found the guy who killed your husband’ over coffee at work, my God, you would have to be an awfully crass and socially broken person to do so, actually, I know that when I see her next, I’ll probably have to struggle not to cry. And I think about this every time I read a headline that starts “man shot on the …..”

To make matters even worse, on the same day, there was an article in the paper about a shooting in my neighborhood about 3 blocks from my house. This shooting happened late at night, in front of a trendy restaurant, by a known gang member, nobody was killed, or even seriously injured, yet it received much more press, and was even covered in the local “hipster blogs” because it involved a trendy street full of rich white people and someone could have been hurt.

I am still seething, and heartbroken.

since when?

2006-09-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

I just read the following sentence in the morning paper "the Bush administration said today that its policy was 'not to make bombing threats.' " .... and since when was this, since about 5 minutes ago?

edit - and how is it that I missed spelling that word incorrectly for several days. Ugh.

2006-09-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my neice is one!

I saw the silliest poster ever today ...

2006-09-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

while walking home from the ‘el’. Actually, I’ve seen this poster for a few weeks now, but I just got around to expressing how funny it strikes me. It is for a band, party, or something called “New Indie Mafia” and it has a drawing of a guitar/machine gun on it. Sorry indie rockers, but I can’t imagine anything less threatening or more amusing than an organized crime outfit consisting entirely of indie rockers. So what happens when I borrow money from ‘Nigel’ of Wilmette and do not pay him back? Is he going to send over some skinny bass player to whine and moan outside my window until I repay him? I've been picturing the Sopranos cast replaced by members Belle and Sebastian all week now.

2006-09-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

I don’t know what makes me angrier, what happened five years ago today, or the direction it catapulted us as a nation. I believe it may be the latter, as we actually had control over that, and squandered it to embrace fear, xenophobia, and greed.

Saying goodbye

2006-09-09T06:04:00.000-07:00

Last night I shopped at Marshall Field’s for the last time. As I took the escalator down the middle of the store, I saw a giant inflatable Macy’s star and was unable to suppress the audible ‘hrmph’ of disgust that passed my lips. The two elderly women in front of me turned and laughed and one said ‘I know, this just ain’t right’. No, it ain’t right. Not at all.

I just picked up the keys tonight.

2006-08-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

It had been awhile since I had seen the apartment, so I was going on a memory of what it had looked like when I visited a couple years back. I seem to recall it being bigger, but it is definately a step up from mine, even if it lacks some of the character my place currently has. However, I have about 4 times the counter space so I might actually cook in this new place, and of course a dishwasher and actual kitchen cabinets....and free laundry!!!

Yet... my bedroom still remains the same 7x11 closet I had in the last place, with, of course, no closet (a odd but common trend in the old city apartments here, something about the closet being counted and taxed as a room around the turn of the century), however, I'll have more options as there won't be any random pipes sticking out of the floor from when they removed the radiators blocking where I can put furniture. Sadly I'm giving up my beautiful turn of the century moldings for no moldings whatsoever ... but my new place won't have a resturant sign blinking in my window at all hours of the day. I guess I can' have it all, but I I know I'll be happy with my new place, even with it's flaws.

That being said, the teal toilet seat and the 1970's orange curtains that smell of cigarette smoke will be the first things to go.

This new place has a lot of potential, and the quirkiness of a turn of the century apartment just waiting to be realized, the antique green colored tiles in the bathroom and the unusually deep window sills can definately be worked with.

__________________

arggh!

2006-08-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my life is a mess right now. I have to move this weekend, but still don’t have a firm answer on the move-in date from my landlord who seems to be avoiding me. On top of that this is an insanely busy time of year at work, so if I don’t into the place this weekend, it will be bad, very, very bad. As it stands though I’m about 50% packed, but should easily be at 100% when I take this Friday off to really tackle stuff.

However, I walked past my new apartment this weekend and peeked in the window (it is only three blocks away from where I live now so I walk past it all the time already), it looks like the paint job has been completed, so that is a good thing.

But the stress of not having this move-in date finalized is driving me batty.

A very welcome near miss (or how I managed to not find myself on a burning train under the river)!

2006-07-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

Usually on Tuesday I get on the Blue Line train to go home around 4:30-5:00pm depending on when I leave work. However, I worked a bit later last Tuesday and decided to go out for drinks and food with a friend. As we were leaving I heard that there was a ‘problem’ with the blue line trains but being that I hadn’t planned on riding it for another hour or so I didn’t think to much about it and went on my merry way. I did however notice that there were a lot more people than normal crowding the bus stops by where the train usually runs, and quite a few fire trucks by the blue line stop at Lake so I though perhaps it was a bit more serious than a ‘signal problem’ (something they seem to have every day, why they can never get the signals right is beyond me). Anyway, when I left the restaurant I noticed that I had 3 voicemails, all from my Mom wondering if I was “okay”. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized what I had so nearly missed (as I probably would have been on that train).

Whew!

Frankie Machine Garden

2006-07-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

So for some reason I found myself reading "The Man with the Golden Arm", perhaps it is because I regularily walk past Algren's old flat and get on the train next to a fountain named in his honor (as appropriate, the fountain is usually only half working, and located in a brick and concrete square that homeless people like to sleep in), but I finally decided to pick up his tough and depressing story of a junkie trying to get by that is set almost entirely in my neighborhood decades before I was even alive. Which brings me to this garden I walk past all the time on my way home from the train, the name of which I would have never understood had I not picked up this book at the used book store one day while browsing.

I am declaring a relocating moratorium…

2006-07-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

Enough with my friends moving out of the Midwest! Last night I found out my good friend is moving to Brooklyn in two months, and while Brooklyn is indeed a lovely place, I can’t drive there in an hour. Enough already! Pretty soon I’m going to be the only person left.

I’ll be sure to turn out the lights in Chicago on my way out.

..... at least I have another excuse to visit New York (like I needed another one of those, I'm starting to worry my mother).

When I signed up for a conference on assessment in Higher Education

2006-06-28T19:29:00.000-07:00

... I didn't realize that drinking beer and Appalachian line dancing with the director of institutional research from a well known University in New England in a shack-like bar in the mountains of North Carolina would be part of the weekend, but it was. I'll post some pictures of the Appalachian mountains later this week.

I'm still upset about missing the Bloc Party show, but my weekend was interesting to say the least.

However all that rain on they are having on the east coast really did a number for my weekend and for the flight back, I didn't get to bed until 3am last night due to delays as a result of the storms.

You asked ....

2006-06-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

Venetian Night = A night where everyone gathers on the lakeshore with snacks, wine, and a radio to watch lavishly decorated ships and boats sail past. There is then a fireworks display that rivals that of the 4^th of July (actually the 3^rd of July) while WXRT (a local station) plays music in sync with it. It isn’t as crowded as the 3^rd of July fireworks (1/2 a million people versus 1 ½ million people). A word to the wise though, the Shedd Aquarium doesn’t turn off their lawn sprinklers, so clear out by 10pm unless you want to get wet (as we discovered last year).

My former grocery store

2006-06-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

The pushcarts come to a squeaky stop.
Originally uploaded by fueledbycoffee.

Okay, so they closed my grocery store, the store I’ve been shopping at for 3 some odd years now, as I so unceremoniously discovered one night when I went to go buy something and found the doors locked and the shelves emptied. Being the internet geek that I am I went home and did some google searches on “Edmar Foods” and discovered out there that sure enough, there was some sort of “Edmar love” going around amongst a certain community of kids I call “the trust fund slummers’, you know, those kids who go around spray painting stenciled graffiti onto everything, seem to revel in dirt and grime, seek out the seedy, and deride anything that looks too sleek, these are the same kids that ride old one speed bikes, wear trucker hats and cop glasses, invariably they are all from wealthy families in Iowa, or grew up on the north shore. That they were decrying the loss of Edmar’s does not surprise me as Edmar was a crappy grocery store that sold horrible produce, sometimes grey meat, prone to bugs, was poorly stocked, and generally pretty dirty. Outside was a collection of neighborhood characters sometimes selling things such as a (probably) broken television, newspapers, or in one case, a fish tank complete with fish. I saw a couple of fights break out in the parking lot before, and a few times, I’m convinced a couple of prostitutes with teeth missing hanging around front. Which leads me to my next point … what the hell is wrong with you people?

Don’t get me wrong, I am none too pleased with the bit of corporate homogeneity that will invariably replace this store (the plans are for a sparkly new Dominick’s complete with Starbucks to come with it), but you know, just because something is independently run, does not make it automatically good, and this place was not good.

Now I have to figure out where I’m going to buy my food.

Another boring "Jessica gets political" post.

2006-06-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

Letter to the Chicago Tribune:

As someone who has been riding the CTA for most of her adult life (and through a bit of her teenage years as well), I am becoming increasingly disheartened at the continued threats to its ability to operate as a viable public transportation system. I read this morning another threat from the state regarding CTA funding that potentially will affect the ability of the CTA to provide service to its riders (“State puts CTA on notice”, June 13, 2006). I find it unconscionable that in this day and age of rising gas prices, rising congestion and pollution, that the state of Illinois is so willing to slash and dismantle, or site idly by while it is slashed and dismantled, one of the most viable solutions to these dilemmas. While I am fully aware that there may very well be problems in the way the CTA manages its funds, I still feel that it is irresponsible of the state of Illinois to allow this problem to fester year after year. Many Chicagoans, me included, do not have the means to maintain and drive a car and pay to use the CTA everyday; as such have made the decision to use one or the other. If my only mode of transportation continues to be threatened and/or dismantled year after year, I may begin to look to for other options. Surely the state of Illinois, and the city of Chicago, would rather that people like me continue to use public transportation rather than add another vehicle to our already congested and polluted environment and thus also seriously impeding my financial ability to enjoy the city I live in and love. I’d rather not even consider my other option, to move away to another city that actually takes its public transportation seriously. Jessica

2006-06-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

Last night was my first night kayaking, ever and I loved it. Yes it was hard work, and quite a workout, and I’m still trying to figure out how to go in a straight line, but it was a lot of fun. Granted we just paddled around Goose Island so my views were not quite as nice as the guy in the picture. However I did get to see the Morton Salt Factory from the river, and isn’t that just everyone’s dream?

Anyway, I have 3 more sessions to go and who knows what after that, I just discovered there is a kayaking even that involves paddling down the river to watch the fireworks on Venetian night, now that sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

Because I've always wanted to go to bed with the common cold...

2006-05-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is the oddest concept for stuffed animals I've seen yet. Black Death, Mad Cow Disease, The Common Cold? I sort of like them.

what in sam hell is wrong with you people?

2006-05-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, I really don’t care who was in the right or who was in the wrong. Yes, I know that AJ Pierzynski is a jerk and probably deserved a good punch in the face, there are a lot of people who are jerks and deserve a good punch in the face, but that doesn’t mean you do it (except in the case of that guy who honks his horn outside my bedroom window in the morning … hey Michael Barrett, I’ve got a job for you). But c’mon guys, quit acting like you are freakin’ 12 years old and stop this nonsense. You just look like idiots carrying on like that.

As an aunt ....

2006-05-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

... I am compelled to believe that my neice IS currently the cutest baby in the world. This is a non-debatable fact.

Picture a theatrical smashup of "The Munsters" and "Psycho," with a dash of "Waiting for Godot"

2006-05-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

That is how the play that I am going to tonight has been described. Oh Joy. I certainly hope it is better than the last play I saw was. It was suposed to be a timely political examination of violence, it turned out to be an overly drawn out melodramtic stinker with no real direction.

kayaking!

2006-05-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm going to learn how to kayak this summer. Granted it is not in wilds of the Amazon, or even the naturally beautiful Colorado river, I'll have to settle for the less exotic and much more tame (and polluted) Chicago River, but I'm going to do it. Why? Because it is there, and who hasn't dreamt of kayaking the Chicago river? Really.

I start at the end of May.

2006-05-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

I'm such a foodie it is pathetic. But I can't wait to go to Tizi Melloul for my friend's bachelorette party mostly because I just love the food there. They have wonderful middle-eastern food, and such a great interior I just have to take this moment to rave.

Washington DC!

2006-05-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

I visted DC for the first time every over Easter ... would you believe it?

Here are a couple of pictures from my trip to DC doing the typical touristy stuff. Yes, I stood in front of the White House and had my picture taken, and was impressed my own maturity, I didn't stick out my tongue or throw anything, despite the temptation.

On reading a post about more condos in Ukrainian Village

2006-04-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

I read and responded to a post (and subsequent outcry) on a local message board about some condos being built where an old (water damaged and unsightly) church currently is. I modified it a bit and put it here as this is a subject I've thought a lot about.I've stated before that some of the howls of 'gentrification' sometime ring a bit hollow with me and it seems that most of the people scream about it the most are whiny north-shore suburban sorts who think living in Chicago is about ‘slumming it’ with the unwashed masses. I suppose I'm a yuppie, I'm typing this on my laptop aren't I? I have a Master’s Degree and work behind a desk, so anywhere I live I suppose I’m part of the gentrification process. I've lived the Ukrainian Village area for 3 some years now moving here from various other neighborhoods in the city and one of the reasons that I liked the neighborhood (other than the great deal I got on an apartment from a friend) was the amenities of the area (restaurants, shopping, easy to get a taxi, close to downtown where I work, didn’t have a reputation for much by the way of crime, etc). I'll admit to feeling a tinge of sadness when I see yet another condo I cannot afford going up but at the same time, when they razed a known drug house to build one, I didn't weep for its departure. I’ve noticed a lot of strange curmudgeons that post on local messageboards complain about newcomers, something that is sort of a mystery to me as well. ... and no I'm not 'life long Chicagoan' I moved to the city from the ‘burbs in 1992 (moved away for 3 years and moved back in 1999). But I don't believe for a moment that newcomers have nothing to add to the fabric of life here, I welcome newcomers with open arms and delight that we are not suffering the stagnation of other cities (come people, have you ever been to Detroit, Cleveland, etc, then you’ll see a what cities are like without loads of newcomers, be happy people want to live here … sheesh). However, I do wish some of these newcomers had a bit more of a sense of the city they have moved into, especially those who move into ‘hip’ neighborhoods with some romanticized notion of urban living fueled by too many movies.Neighborhoods change often in many ways and these currently 'gentrified' neighborhoods will change too. My ‘uncle’ (long story) grew up in Roselawn back in the 1950's and he can assure you that it is an entirely different place now (he currently lives in Beverly) and I remember my father telling me about his days as a hippie in Old Town (talk about another area that has changed).I grew up in the south suburbs and watched them change drastically in the past 30 years (I was born in Chicago Heights, now there is a place that could use some 'gentrification') such as childhood friend having a brick thrown throw her window for being the first African American family to move into what is now a primarily African American suburb to a good friend of mine who grew up in another burb just south of the city and somehow ended up steward of his parents house after a divorce and watched the neighborhood change from a rather ethnically and socioeconomically mixed middle class suburb to the sort of place where someone once was mugged on their way to his Halloween party and crime skyrocketed on the street he had grown up on (he ended up selling the house and moving into the city after being hassled one too many times about being the only white person on the block, a sad commentary on the continuing racial dynamic here). So I guess this is a long way of stating, I have mixed feelings about this whole gentrification issue, while I certainly don’t like many aspects of it (especially when it involves swathes of new residents with little yippee dogs) I also have lived in some places that were decidedly unpleasant (Edgewater and on Clark Street in Rogers Park between January of 1992 and Spring of 1994 for example, I’ll take the little yippee dogs to the regular gunfire any day), and as a former resident of aforementioned south suburbs, it broke my heart to watch the place where as a child I used to shop and play shutter its doors because business fled and eventually be razed for low incoming housing. The opposite of gentrification is pretty ugly stuff indeed.

the non-trip report

2006-04-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to get my act together to write a real report about my trip to nyc and DC, but suffice to say I had a lovely time. I started my DC trip with a visit to a Dada exhibit, which colored the rest of my experience (in a good way).

The highlight of new york this time around was a visit to the transit museum in Brooklyn (a sidenote ... I recently discovered a suprising number of my mother's family a couple of generations back were either born there or died there) in which I was able to embrace my inner train/transit geek (see picture).

on a rooftop in brooklyn .....

2006-04-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

I'm going on vacation next week to spend Easter NYC and DC. I can barely concentrate at work.

To the person who threw their half eaten ice-cream onto the sidewalk this morning and walked away...

2006-03-31T08:18:00.000-08:00

I stepped in it. Today was a lovely morning so I wore sandals for the first time since last summer, and I stepped in your disgusting half melted ice-cream. I had to go into a gas station with my disgusting ice-cream covered feet and ask to use the bathroom so that I could wash them off, walked in on a man sitting on the toilet, missed my train, and ended up a ½ hour late for work with wet feet because there were no paper towels in the bathroom.

You suck.

I want a scooter

2006-03-29T06:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am interested in buy a Honda Metropolitan scooter (or something similar, yes I'm looking for a newish 49cc scooter, no I'm not looking to shell out thousands for a Vespa, I'm pretty much mainly interested in getting from point A to point B) but I’m just starting to figure out how to do this. It looks like most of the dealers are out in the suburbs or really far away (and I don’t have a car). I’m looking to buy a 49cc scooter so I wouldn’t need to get a license for it, but have some questions for people who have bought scooters and dealt with having them here.

1. How do I insure the scooter? I don’t have a garage and had a little $300 dollar scooter stolen before (in another city) and would like to have insurance on this one.

2. How do I best park the damn thing, I can’t seem to figure out what the laws are in Chicago for scooters? What do you do?

Any suggestions or things I haven’t thought of? I've had a scooter before, so I know how to ride them, but I'm still deciding whether or not it is worth it to have one here or should I just keep riding my bike and shelling out fares to the CTA.

2006-03-24T06:02:00.000-08:00

This morning in today's Chicago Tribune I read the following headline: Trotter is named as disaster czar in city.

And my immediate thought was .... so if we are struck by a disaster of Katrina-like porportions then we are all going to be feed expensive fussy food?

Apparently I think too much about food.

more thoughts on Saturday

2006-03-20T19:07:00.000-08:00

So my picture from Saturday's protest got published on Chicagoist.com and as such I've given a bit more thought to the events of Saturday and combined and edited some of my posts to their site mulling all this over.

Okay, as the person who took the picture on the website, I was indeed at the march, but have had some mixed emotions regarding my participation since. I don’t entirely agree that marching is a futile act, but it is fast becoming one if people treat it as a party and as someone aptly put, a fashion event. Additionally, it seems that nobody will ever put aside their pet causes for anything (I’m talking to you moron with the animal liberation sign)in my opinion the promotion of pet projects cheapens and dilutes the message of a demonstration, it sure as hell did for me and it just make the marchers who had a clue look like a rag tag bunch of fringe malcontents, and while I may be against the war, I really don't want to be associated with those nutcases over at PETA ;)

I rarely march actually, I've only marched twice before and was disappointed in the size of the contingent, especially since so recently there had been 100,000 in the streets so recently. I don't think I'll march against the war again unless things take a serious turn because it did feel rather futile in some respects and quite frankly the behavior of the other protesters was so juvenile that I don't even really think they took why they were there seriously. I never made it down to the plaza and got on the 'el' to go home at lake and wells. It was an interesting experience and I don't regret taking part of it if anything to see what is wrong currently with the left.

Finally, political chants really need to be rethought, I know the chant is no place for complex and nuanced politics, but do they have to be so banal? The march served a purpose in that it made people aware that yes, there is a left, and a fairly decent sized contingent of folks who care enough to actually step into the street, but it was a whimper when what is really needed is a shout, and I don't know that shout will be heard in a heavily guarded city approved gathering.

Do people not read anymore?

2006-03-19T07:09:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday the primary election is occurring and I cannot wait for it to be over and am getting very sick of campaign commercials (and the one with Eisendrath and the chainsaws is just getting creepy). But the most recent tempest in a teapot is the accusing of a Sun-Times columnist of accusing Stroger of using his illness as a ploy for a sympathy vote by someone who apparently didn't seem to read his column very closely. Here is the offending passage in my opinion.

So, when wily, 76-year-old Cook County Board president and Democratic Party dinosaur John Stroger checked himself into the hospital Tuesday, the more cynical among us diagnosed a ploy in the fine tradition of the gunshot through the headquarters window and the mysterious late campaign bandage.

The next sentence states "But -- surprise, surprise -- the man seems to be actually sick, though the results are the same: to take the air out of the surging Forrest Claypool campaign, as the media focuses, not on the dynamic reformer who has pulled within striking distance of the longtime pol, but on Stroger."

Is the columnist cynical and mean-spirited? Yes. Does he have the warm fuzzies toward Stroger? No, in fact if he were a waiter he'd probably spit in his soup. But since when is it a surprise that the Sun-Times (or the Tribune for that matter) employs cynical mean spirited political columnists who write scathing and insulting and mean spirited columns about local politicians (most of whom deserve worse). Hell, that is why most people read them, as politics is a cynical mean-spirited sport. But nowhere in that column did I read that Steinberg actually believed that Stroger's stroke was a ploy for votes. As Bishop Larry Trotter seems to believe.

Good lord, Tuesday cannot come fast enough.

2006-03-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

Usually I just complain about politics online and with my friends, but tonight I decided to put my money where my mouth was and while marching realized that there is an embarrassing dearth of creative political chants that make sense these days. On the upside, over 7000 people showed up and I've never had the chance to walk right down the middle of Michigan Avenue before.

2006-03-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

As a member of the MCA I usually stop into their members only parties they have for their new exhibits, as I did tonight, but usually I eat and drink before I show up as the booze is expensive and sub par (and they have a stupid ticket system for buying drinks that makes me feel like I'm at taste of Chicago with art freaks) and the food isn't all that much to speak of either. This time the exhibit was ANDY WARHOL/SUPERNOVA: Stars, Deaths, and Disasters 1962-1964. Tonight was a bit of a bust, I stood in line for 20 minutes for a rather small exhibit that was interesting, but ultimately a bit weak. But it was a perfectly Warholesque experience standing in a room with people who were mostly there to be seen (honestly, the amount of people standing around in their perfectly planned outfits with their back to the artwork was amusing and somehow apropos).

2006-03-12T20:16:00.000-08:00

I hate 95th street! I spent so much time in traffic on that street today, and I deliberately left when I thought I would be avoiding most of the traffic from the parade but still spent far too much time sitting in gridlock partially do to Beverly's maze like street set up in which most streets end in cul-du-sac's before they hit 95th so people can't turn off onto side streets when they want to. Beverly is a beautiful neighborhood, don't get me wrong, and I had a lovely time today (I didn't go to the parade, just the party afterward) but that aspect of the place annoys me (that and there is no quick and easy way to get there from my house). Oh, and the Dan Ryan sucked too, and the construction hasn't even started yet (shudders).

2006-03-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

This weekend is the weekend of St. Patricks Day parades. On Saturday is the downtown parade and on Sunday is the South Side Irish Parade. I've been attending the South Side parade since I was a child (and have never seen the downtown parade or the river being dyed green, which is rather sad being that I've lived in Chicago for far too long) and generally go to the south side parade with my family and to my "uncle"'s (a long time family friend) house for a party afterwards. This year for a myriad of reasons, my family isn't going, but interestingly enough this year is the first time I got a separate invitation to the party from my parents, so I think I will go anyway and skip the parade (I know many people at this party, and have known these people since I was a child), honestly, how many times does one need to see waving politicians and a giant Jewel shopping cart, that and I really hate that stupid 'south side irish' song they play ad nauseum, sadly, I know most the words. Being that public transportation to the far south side is a long and dicey affair and while I could take the Metra down there like I did last year (that isn't a long and dicey affair, my uncle lives on 92nd street, a half a mile walk from the train), I hate having to rely on the Sunday "we only run every two hours" schedule, so I'll probably rent a car for the day and use it as an excuse to run some errands in the morning that are best done with a car (Costco here I come). Anyway, I'm looking forward to it, the South Side Irish parade and subsequent get together is probably one of the longer running traditions in my family, and it is something I really enjoy and I feel like it is an event that keeps me connected to my past and roots. And I have to admit, it is rather amusing to watch the young girls I remember dancing jigs in their embroidered dresses in the living room morph into sullen awkward teenagers not quite sure what to do at this party their parents dragged them too, just as I remember being that sullen awkward teenager thinking the same thing 15 years ago.

2006-03-06T18:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, I’ll admit to sometimes reading the Red Eye on the train. I know that it is culturally uncouth for a former English major, book club participant, and wannabe cultural elitist such as myself to admit to publicly to reading the literary equivalent of bathroom graffiti on the train, but there you have it. I particularly like the vapid and absurd articles geared toward shallow women (no, I do not attempt to get world or local news there; I go straight for the trash and the coupons).

Today’s Red Eye had a particular gem that I would like to share. In writing about the apparent scourge of online fraud in designer handbags (yes you read that correctly) the following excerpt stood out

“Cannon initially balked at the $359 price tag. But his girlfriend thought it was a bargain. Gucci totes retail between $595 and $6,695 on Gucci.com. ‘I got stuck in the middle of this because she had no credit card, but insisted it was a great deal’.

We’ll set aside the moral bankruptcy it requires one to have to spend that much on a purse (that is a slippery slope that could be applied to anyone, including myself who just last week spent $45 on a skirt despite owning 5 other skirts), but that one would consider paying that much for a purse when she doesn’t have a credit card. This, oddly enough isn’t even addressed in the article and glided over as if it is common for people who can’t even get a credit card (I’m fairly certain my cat got a credit card offer last week) to spend hundreds of dollars handbags. Like I said, this paper is a nice little mirror of everything that is wrong with our society right now, and as such, like being unable to turn away from a car accident, I find myself reading it on occasion.

Windows Error Messages Remade into Haikus

2006-03-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

The Web site you seek cannot be located, but Countless more exist.

Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return.

Program aborting: Close all that you have worked on. You ask far too much.

Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your screams.

Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Windows is like that.

Your file was so big. It might be very useful. But now it is gone.

Stay the patient course. Of little worth is your ire. The network is down.

A crash has reduced your expensive computer to a simple stone.

Three things are certain: Death, taxes and lost data. Guess which has occurred.

You step in the stream, but the water has moved on. This page is not here.

Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, but we never will.

Having been erased, the document you're seeking must now be retyped.

Serious error. All shortcuts have disappeared: screen, Mind. Both are blank.

2006-02-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

Seattle rocks

I just got back yesterday, what a great city.

2006-01-24T19:32:00.000-08:00

So I bought a copy of Stop Smiling (http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/) today and read some of it on the the bus on the way home and about dropped the magazine when I read Aleksandar Hermon's essay on Edgewater, not only was that the first neighborhood I moved to when I moved up to the city from the 'burbs 14 years ago, but he and I lived in the same freakin' building. The Artist's In Residence building on Winthrop. His descriptions of the neighborhood are apt. Although I'm a bit disturbed about the report that a Ukrainian psychic priest has foreseen a black cloud over my current neighborhood, I wonder what that means.

However, I almost didn't buy it because my three choices of covers were Vince Vaughn, Hugh Hefner, and Daley, but I gave in and picked what I can't say is the lessor of the three evils, so now I've got some magazine with Daley's goofy mug sitting out on my coffee table, laying face down. They really should have picked some other people to put on the front of the damn thing, that being said, cover aside I still recommend the issue.

On a complately unrelated note. Sunday was my birthday and my mom took me out to dinner, and we ate at Red Light (http://www.redlight-chicago.com/home.ht

m). It is a wonderful resturant, I highly recommend it.

2006-01-14T19:35:00.000-08:00

Baltic Bakery - RIF (Rest in Filth)

Okay, I've been eating bread from Baltic Bakery for years (an eastern european bakery located at 4627 S Hermitage Ave), since I was young. I remember my mom buying it at the grocery store and loved their Lithanium and Polish rye bread. But apparently they are closed for good for being absolutely filthy. I just discovered this today when I went to the grocery store and inquired where their bread was only to be asked "haven't you heard" (apparently I hadn't). According to the local news, it qualified as one of the dirtiest yet.

So now I have to find a new source for my decent rye bread. I suppose I could go here as it is only a couple blocks away, but I wish I could just pick up decent bread at the grocery store.

why I don't recycle

2006-01-02T19:34:00.000-08:00

So this New Years I made a resolution to start recycling despite our city having the most moronic recycling system ever. So a couple of days ago I started out on my trek to find the infamous ‘blue bags’ we have to use to recycle. So I went to four places as of today (for locals I went to Edmar’s on Chicago and Damen, the Walgreens on Milwaukee just north of Division, Sahir’s liquors, and the Walgreens at Chicago and Paulina) to no avail. Tonight as I asked about where the ‘blue bags’ were a surly cashier with what looked liked a homemade gang tattoo on her neck spat at me, ‘ya hafta go to a hardware store’, when I asked her where one was she said ‘I dunno, Home Depot?’. Okay, this is where it gets sticky, I don’t have a car and there is no way in hell I’m walking 2+ miles to a damn Home Depot in the middle of winter for some stinking 'Blue Bags'. And the city wonders why hardly anyone participates in the recycling program ... go ahead Chicago, drown in your own filth, see if I care, idiots.

2005-12-10T05:40:00.000-08:00

dibs = I am an idiot who dug out this parking spot out on a public street and now it is mine, if you put your car there I will slash your tires or break your mirrors.

Disclamer - I do not have a car, I do not do this.