Chicago: Become Familiar with its Distinctive Neighborhoods

I remember that WWDTM with Elmo! It was really good. I really want to go to a taping, but I want one with Paula Poundstone and Mo Rocca. Although that Adam Felber is a pretty good time, too.

If any of you still need a last minute xmas gift:

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I asked my mom for socks this year (I ask for them every year) and she got me six pairs of awesome Smart Wool socks... THAT ARE ALL HOLIDAY THEMED. Oy. I'm going to wear the fuckers anyway, but come on. One pair of holiday themed socks = cute. Six? Um...

Six expensive pairs of holiday socks, even. Smart Wool socks ain't cheap. It's another gift from my mother that falls into the "Have you met me?" category. Oh well. Socks are socks. Thanks, Mom!

Why is 8:48 playing Dark Star by the Grateful Dead?

Other great gift ideas:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2262/2118202388_9c6c69f215_m.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0919637264/ref=dp_image_0/104-1251833-8808704?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41DSF2QR8VL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

The cover of the book on how to date white women is killing me, with the soft focus and the blond hair and the flowing gown and the flowers. Hoooeee.

WHOOPS.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513DDK48XAL._SS500_.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41SYZ725WYL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

so the whole reason i wanted to watch 'stop making sense' yesterday was that i've had "naive melody" in my head lately, and i couldn't watch it because the dvd was cracked. today i find out that although i own four talking heads albums, i apparently don't own the one with "naive melody" on it.

what i really want is an mp3 cd with all the talking heads albums on it for our road trip

although i own four talking heads albums, i apparently don't own the one with "naive melody" on it.

Tragic! Would a pair of holiday theme socks make you feel better?

now i'm listening to "more songs about buildings and food" on vinyl and it's on "stay hungry" and skipping so that it's playing an instrumental loop almost in time, wish i had some way to record this easily

When you are cats leaving town? I think we have that album; I could Y-S-I it to you after work if you'll still be around.

And if we actually have it.

i just checked and found a place to download it illegally, but don't know if i'll have time before we leave (hopefully around lunchtime)

For Jordan: New Yorker editor David Remnick on the Bad Plus.

thanks though

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2262/2118202388_9c6c69f215_m.jpg

^^^Would've made a great gift for me when I was 13.

i've had "naive melody" in my head lately

When Jody said she was going to be covering a Talking Heads song, I knew right away that it was going to be "Naive Melody."

thanks jaymc. they said this about it on their blog We were thrilled to meet David Remnick; I even brought my copy of The Complete New Yorker and a felt-tip pen for him to sign it with. Those who also have The Complete New Yorker are advised to read Remnick on Lennox Lewis, Don DeLilo, Bill Clinton, and Ornette Coleman.

The next day, Reid and I talked on the phone to the fact-checker (Dave was in transit) and that was an unforgettable experience. His name was Maury (I think; DTM doesn't have a fact-checker) and he grilled us mercilessly over every word. "We would like to say that _____. Is this true?" He would wait patiently while we flopped around like a speared fish, then write down yes or no and move on without comment. "We would like to say that _____. Is this true?" No wonder that the profiles in that magazine are always definitive!

---

my plans fell through last night so i did, like, 5 crosswords from that Tausig book. he's got a little commentary in the answers section of each one about what inspired the theme, etc..

i'm getting a cold. :(

stop making sense has been on like permanent repeat in this house for two weeks

this seems to happen about twice a year

i liked that new yorker piece! i also <3 dave king

Also in this week's New Yorker was a letter about Mark Strand from a poetry professor that Kelsey once had and whom we called Skeletor for some reason (I think she had sunken cheeks or something).

me tooo. happy apple is playing here soon, i like seeing them live more than the bad plus.

i would buy a cd of dave king stage patter.

This is probably not very interesting but I'm going to tell you anyway:

I was just in the bathroom washing my hands and a woman came out of the stall and, looking at a little bottle of hairspray sitting on the shelf above the sink, says, "Oh, I left my hair spray in here last night!" And I said, "You're lucky it's still here." (Because the bathroom is semi-public and shit gets stolen a lot.) And she said, "Well, nobody wants my weird brand of hairspray. Plus it just goes to show you how late I left last night!" And I think that was a funny thing to say because the bottle of hairspray was sitting on the little shelf right where she found it just now when I went to pee before leaving work last evening at, like, 4:50, but I'm new so I did not say, "OH BULLSHIT LADY NICE TRY."

The end.

Also I know somebody who plans to name an impending baby "Genesis," which I can only hope leads to the child being nicknamed "Phil Collins."

Or Tony Banks. Or Mike Rutherford. Or Mike and the Mechanics.

Mike + The Mechanics, that is.

Glad to have you around these here parts, Jenny!

That's pretty funny about the Christmas socks.

The ones I'm wearing today are red with white snowflakes on them.

I guess you'll have to wear xmas socks every day for the next several days to get the most use out of them.

I've wanted to cover "the big country" (last track on buildings and food). I think I covered "heaven" long ago and was asked to sing "once in a lifetime" (as well as mellencamp's great "lonely old night" with a wedding-reception band composed of the groom's friends.

You should cover "Big Country" by Big Country. EL could play the "bagpipe" part.

Here's another stupid work story:

This morning, I was waiting for the copier to warm up and an HR person came in and we were both wearing read sweaters (MINE TO MATCH MY RED SOCKS YOU SEE) so I made some sort of "Hey it's red sweater day" small talk type comment and she asked if I had ever met one of the red hat ladies or whatever the fuck they're called and I said I had seen them around and she said, "I have to tell you about those ladies..." and went into her office, presumably to put her stuff down and so she could come back out and tell me about the red hat ladies, but by then my copies finished so I just went back to my desk. Because I really had no interest in hearing about the red hat ladies COME ON.

XP - Big Country by Big Country is one of my TOP FAVORITE SONGS OF ALL TIME EVER. I are serious.

I hope you saved some turkey for me.

Well, Sarah, to be honest they are "holiday" socks more so than straight up Christmas socks, or arguably "winter" socks, you know with snow flakes and snow people and shit like that so I could wear them until March, probably, but they are definitely more evocative of the winter holiday season than I generally want my clothing to be.

You should have listened to her Jenny, they might be dangerous?

oh goodness it's christmassy in here today! merry christmassy, errybudy!

HUGGLEZ FOR CHRISTMAS!

OH, SETTLE DOWN, DON'T SQUIRM.

I don't know that I could pull off the CHAHs successfully.

Hey hey Chicago. What's shankin?

Jenny sure is posting from work a lot.

You should have listened to her Jenny, they might be dangerous?

LOL. Here I thought she was just going to bore me shitless but really it was a WARNING THAT COULD HAVE SAVED MY LIFE. Those little old ladies are really vampire demon succubusesesesses.

I know, I'm kind of bored plus it's Friday plus nobody is here plus I have a couple extra days to finish my work.

I second Eric's emotion re I Am Legend. It was pretty decent. Sometimes the dialog delved into blockbustery glibness but for the most part it was good. Overall I would say it was more worth going to the theater for than your typical big budget special effects movie. And the scenes of desolate NYC were pretty cool. As were the undead things.

jenny, maybe they can be your "boot socks" since then nobody would ever see them?

who are the red hat ladies?

"big country" is one of david byrne's lyrical gems but i don't really get the melody of that song. i like the version of heaven from stop making sense with just david byrne, tina weymouth and one of the back up singers.

Oh, I will wear these socks. They are warm and comfortable. I will just look like a dipshit while I do it. But I am 35 now so I guess it's time to become resigned to holiday-specific clothing.

The Red Hat Society

surely it's this?

http://www.redhat.com/

Those old ladies who go out for hot tea and salads wearing red hats and purple clothes are Linux fanatics.

And succubi.

Ah yes, wasn't it Stephen Sondheim who coined the phrase "Ladies who Linux"? Such an archetype.

Advanced Word users:

Is it possible to consolidate text? I have a document that has a blank page between each page of text, which is super annoying. I would like to remove all line spaces larger than double-spaced. Possible?

Yes! But I can't remember how.

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