Chicago: Become Familiar with its Distinctive Neighborhoods

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IS THIS, OR IS THIS *NOT* THE BEST CHRISTMAS CARD YOU'VE EVER SEEN???

(despite my crappy scan of it, and the sloppy redaction of the phone number)

From Robin Ru550.

= Serieusement?

Good morning!
How was the show last night, Eric? I ended up not leaving the apartment once yesterday. I didn't even open the door!

And I just did a new one, but I have to wait until tomorrow morning before I can import it into Crossword Weaver

So what did you do it on?

I fulfilled my xword fantasy yesterday. :) It involved the NYT puzzle, for one thing.

i think that's supposed to be notated with :) :) :) jordan.

i was being modest :) :) :)

but for real, actually finishing that puzzle took alllll day, and some community assistance.

but for real, actually finishing that puzzle took alllll day,

my heart's not exactly breaking over here...

lol at community assistance

sorry, i'll stop braggin' 2007.

also i watched disc 1 of the Wire season 4 and i'm obsessed all over again. i almost bought the box just so i wouldn't have to wait until later this week for netflix to send more, but it was $50.

i did not step foot in a bar this weekend for the first time in a while. and apparently i missed a good time up at HC thursday night. "dancers", coked out millionaires, puking.... sounds like it had it all.

That is indeed a great Xmas card.

also i watched disc 1 of the Wire season 4 and i'm obsessed all over again

^^^ ditto. we watched all of disc 1 last night. so good. it's kind of crazy how many characters they have at this point, though it's not too hard getting caught back up again. i had totally forgotten about the excon/boxing instructor guy.

i think am going to make Ye Olde River Wolf chili soon (possibly for an informal chili battle). if anyone else has a good chili recipe, pls share!

xpost, cutty!

there have to be like 10 plotlines going right now, huh?

i would try and list them all but i would probably piss somebody off

i told a teacher about the Wire and she was skeptical (thought it would be on some Dangerous Minds shit). then i showed her the classroom scenes from episode 3 and totally won her over.

i know, right?

THE WIRE SPOILER ALERT

current plotlines:
1. mayoral race
2. prez becomes a teacher
3. excon/boxing instructor guy
4. bodie's weak renegade corner
5. wiretap unit going after marlo
6. ex-police guy helping college study young offenders
7. new group of young kids (dookie, ponytail kid, randy, et al)
8. omar
9. bald white dude working as security for the mayor
10. drug kingpin consortium trying to get marlo to help crack down on NY dealers
11. mcnulty is settled down/bunk and other homicide dudes (neither of these is really a full plot line at this point so I counted each as half)

obv. some of those are bigger than others, and there's a lot of overlap

I've seen a handful of episodes from the first season so none of that means anything to me. It is one of those shows I will probably watch in its entirety in a furious month of Netflixing/torrenting, someday.

somemonth

don't forget freamon following the barksdale money trail and the higher-ups breaking up the unit

and bunk's homicide case, which will obv. intersect with marlo and his hitmen

that girl killer (w/the nail gun) is totally creepy

i was joking last night that she is going to fall in love with bodie and there will be some romeo & juliet action (this will not happen).

did you see that omar's boyfriend was reading a george pelecanos book?

We didn't even realize that character was a girl until we heard her name was Felicia.

srsmt = serieusment, yes.

I want to show everyone that credit card.

Fuck. CHRISTMAS CARD.

I had a terrible night at Catch and needed medicating and I am suffering from Xanax-brain this morning.

were you guys all hooked on the wire right away? we watched the first episode of the first season and were kind of "meh." but everyone says it's so great...

yeah, honestly i didn't know that character was a girl until i listened to a little of the commentary!

did you see that omar's boyfriend was reading a george pelecanos book?

ha, no, i was wondering what book that was.

thinking back, i was interested right away but it might have taken a couple episodes for me to get totally hooked.

it definitely gets better as it goes on and there is less emphasis on mcnulty as a central character, as he's the most stereotypical cop show character on The Wire. but if you don't like it after the first few episodes, you're probably not going to like the rest.

So what did you do it on?

Crossword Wizard, which is for Mac. It allows you to make the grid but not to turn it into a pretty page with columns of clues, etc.

Anyway: here it is.

Whoops, that was too small. I mean this.

Awesome. Do you just pick a standard grid from a template? It seems like the grid options in Crossword Weaver are kind of limited, but I don't feel equipped to make one from scratch or whatever.

I CAN'T WRITE A CURSIVE "B" TO SAVE MY LIFE. (trying to forge my boss's signature)

also i watched disc 1 of the Wire season 4 and i'm obsessed all over again. METOO.
I also did not realize creepy nail gun kid was a girl until JUST NOW. I thought someone referred to him as a she, which confused me, but I had been watching for several hours at that point and was experiencing fatigue.

The classroom scenes are GRATE.

Carcetti totally creeps me out too. Man do I love that show.

Colette, as for your question, yes I was hooked right away, but I am a a pretty big fan of the genre. Try it with the subtitles on -- it relieves some of my name-related listening fatigue.

also i am going to start spelling your name correctly starting today

I just make my own grids. Sometimes I do the whole grid first before filling in clues and sometimes it kind of fills itself in as I go along. Once you've done a couple, it's easy to remember what works and what doesn't, like how you need at least three black squares at the grid's edge after at least three rows. Crossword Weaver also automatically makes it symmetrical for you (if you put a black square in the top-left corner, it will automatically create on in the bottom-right).

sometimes it kind of fills itself in as I go along

I don't mean this literally. Just that the words I pick dictate what the grid looks like, rather than the grid dictating what words I pick.

Very interesting, I did the opposite on my first puzzle, which probably made it harder than necessary. Next time I won't work from a template.

you guys i think i have the arthuritis in my left wrist/hand
:(
hello geritol

Also, now that I'm doing themed puzzles, I have to fill in the theme answers first.

Does anyone here know any good bossanova music?

Besides, like, Getz/Gilberto?

I used to have a cheap Antonio Carlos Jobim sampler that was pretty undeniable.

I dunno, I guess? I am searching ILM threads for later reading.

jobim, sergio mendes' brasiliero album, getz/gilberto is the obvious one, Black Orpheus soundtrack

xpost