Chicago MMXII

Could I put actual butter instead of olive oil in the brown paper bag with the popcorn and salt, or would it burn?

we've been eating a LOT of popcorn lately, but it's oil-popped on the stove so not as healthy as it could be. i'm into balsamic vinegar on my popcorn.

Pop corn is the worst. Getting it stuck in my teeth, which happens almost every time, can ruin an entire day. Sometimes I can't even floss it out.

these are all delicious options

I don't know about butter in the bag. I always figured if I wanted to put butter on it, I'd pop the corn dry, and then add butter and salt later.

mh, I don't reuse the bags I used to pop popcorn. They are too greasy. I just meant that a package of lunch bags is in general a useful and multi-purpose thing to have in the home.

Hey - have any of you checked out an ePub book from the library to read on an iPad or other Apple device? I'm trying to find out whether that's a thing I can do but I'm not having much luck.

Another disappointing thing: hot tea. Disappointment water.

i think epub will generally work on most readers except the kindle?

I have a snazzy reusable lunch bag made from recycled materials so I don't tend to buy those *smug*

Not that I use the lunch bag that much, I mostly just go out to eat

these incredibly detailed instructions seem to be saying "you download the epub and put it on your ipad" basically: http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=8920

That makes more sense than the directions on Overdrive. Thanks!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-dixon-comptroller-to-be-arraigned-on-charge-of-stealing-53-million-20120507,0,2940029.story

Court appointed attorney! Although I guess she can't afford an attorney now that they've frozen all of her assets.

This could be fun?
http://www.halfacrebeer.com/blog/2012/05/08/the-sands/

Jeff and I were just emailing about this. Only 350 tickets, going on sale Saturday morning. Jeff's prediction was that people would start lining up around 4 a.m.

Yeah, with only 350 tickets I don't think I'm even going to bother trying.

Yes, and I'm sure the first 175 will all buy two tickets. Then riots.

Going to be out of town at a graduation anyway on Saturday, so problem avoided!

that whole process sounds really stressful
can't i just get tacos and beer and eat them at the time and place of my choosing?

well, has anyone every been to The Dock, where the half acre shindig is going down? Sounds like it could be pretty awesome regardless of what's going on.

The dock at Montrose Harbor? I've biked along it on many occasions on my way to the bird preserve.

yeah, at montrose.

can't i just get tacos and beer and eat them at the time and place of my choosing?

hah, this is my argument for not going to so many social events. so there's going to be these things, maybe they're cheaper or free even, but isn't it worth the money to pay for things so that I don't have to go somewhere with a bazillion other people?

There are going to be hundreds of other events during craft beer week to choose from. Unfortunately the popular ones like this one are going to be complete clusterfucks to get tickets for. I have no doubts that it would be worth the price, I just don't want to compete by seeing who can stand in line the longest.

It just seems so unnecessary stressful. Maybe if my life were otherwise stress-free I would be like yeah! exciting! but really I just want to do only exactly what I want to do in my free time, not struggle against other humans to get what I want, which is usually fairly modest (a couple of tacos, a couple of beers, a place to sit).

I wouldn't really consider being somewhere with 349 other people as being super crowded or anything, I wouldn't mind that part. I just don't want to have to wait in line for hours and hours at a separate time and day for the privilege of going to something.

I mean Dark Lord Day was at least just sitting at my computer trying to get tickets. If I missed out I would've wasted, oh, three minutes of sitting at my computer.

I'm sure part of the appeal is the availability of beers that would be hard to obtain otherwise. Many times these events are the only place many people can try them. Rare certainly doesn't always equal good, but it does in many cases of establish brands with a history of producing phenomenal special releases.

Yeah, I understand that appeals to some people -- I just am not one of them. It seems pretty cool and full of excellent food and beer, for sure! I wonder what the entertainment will be? That would be something that could change my mind about whether or not it was worth the trouble.

Probably beer nerds doing live readings of their beer advocate reviews.

I know the guy who runs the Dock and have been there a few times.

Probably beer nerds doing live readings of their beer advocate reviews.

LOL

looks like sarah and i are going to go to pitchfork fest on saturday and sunday this year btw

http://www.letsbefriendsagain.com/images/drudgesiren.GIFBREAKING NEWShttp://www.letsbefriendsagain.com/images/drudgesiren.GIF

The ATM lobby of the Chase on LaSalle smells like weed.

I'm high as hell and I think I accidentally deposited my driver's license into the ATM.

You're totally gonna have to fail some pre-employment drug test now b/c of this!

we now have three hungry baby birds chirping in a shoebox in our second bedroom and a crazy cat trying her best to get inside that bedroom. good times.

tomorrow morning I will take the birds to northerly island wildlife rehabilitation, where they should be well taken care of.

Where did the birds come from?

they were nesting in a cable box right outside our (second floor) porch and somehow the whole nest fell down to ground. We kind of suspect it was some cable guy working in the box who just threw it down, because it had been seemingly securely nestled in there. Anyway, the babies somehow seem okay but mama and/or papa bird were nowhere to be found and a rat was poking hungrily around the babies...

So after some massive freaking out we brought the birds up and then googled and then called this place and so hopefully all's well that ends well.

I hope so, too!

When we lived in NC I boxed up an injured woodpecker in our front yard and transported it to safety. I was afraid it was going to peck the shit out of me, so I wore these welding gloves that we use for oven mitts to pick it up.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2012/may/08/gay-rights-united-states

IL is so close to being awesome. We need to step it up!

Also, BOO NORTH CAROLINA.

I was kind of amazed at how many NC-affiliated twitterers seemed confident that voters would defeat amendent 1, and then subsequently shocked and disappointed when it passed. It's like we lived in different states.

Ooh that Guardian page is nifty.

Yeah, those are some high quality infographics.

A couple FB of my NC FB friends were disappointed too. Perhaps some people thought that Obama getting NC meant that things had changed. Also, people who live in places like Greensboro, Chapel Hill, and Durham might forget which state those relatively liberal towns are part of.

I wish ENDA were getting as much publicity and support as gay marriage.

From some of the stuff I read on Twitter, it sounds like the wording on the ballot might have been really confusing.

Greensboro's rep as a liberal enclave is another bit of NC perception that has always made me smdh. xp

the amendment was misrepresented/misunderstood as only being a referendum against gay marriage - people didn't get that it also prohibited civil unions, and polls showed that if that had been better expressed, the amendment would've failed. not that that's any consolation. actually it makes it worse. sorry.

it's pretty crazy that iowa is the midwest state most supportive of gay rights, is iowa traditionally liberal? i had no idea.

I don't think so?

It blows that the wording was misleading, but it's also incumbent on voters to know what the fuck they're voting for. And still people who voted for it because they thought it "only" banned gay marriage are still shitty bigots. But that's probably what you meant by "actually makes it worse."

The trend is still towards acceptance of gay marriage so the big picture is comforting, at least.

I read that polls said that 7% of people who voted FOR the amendment thought it would legalize gay marriage. lolfart