Chicago: They paved a fetid swamp/and put up a parking lot

Really sorry to miss DanK's book party tonight--obligations of work and such.

Some great tweets:

CandeeCakes: So it started hailing again!!! Wtf is going on?!?! Tom Skilling didn't see this shit coming?!

tashapyt_mack: Tom aint shit bout no rain man. RT @SocialiteBjanay: Don't you dare! RT @tashapyt_mack: Man Fuck Tom Skilling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CandeeCakes: It's raining?! I sat there and listened to Tom Skilling long winded ass and he ain't say nothin bout no rain! Round lil fucker!

...and then savvy social media:

GriffinLounge: Tom Skilling just forecasted "PERFECT CLUBBING WEATHER for GRIFFIN's Industry night tonight!"

It looked like half the trees on our block were going to snap in pieces, but fortunately the only damage up here was our patio umbrella which flew two houses down the block.

we had car damage (hood) and the sidewalk looked like a salad (acc to dk)

Sorry to hear that, we seemed to avoid the hail up here.

eh, nothing we could have done about it
i'm honestly more upset that my running shoes still smell like pee after i've cleaned them with bleach like 100x

That sucks about your car.

My sidewalk looked like salad too. And the street lamps went out, which made it surprisingly dark out there - I guess the high rises don't have light on ground floors and the trees block the light from above. Anyway, it was dark enough to not be able to see fallen branches.

I'll be so happy to be living in a place where I can see weather out of the windows tomorrow.

http://damnyouautocorrect.com/images/coming-out.jpg

you'd think people would stop using autocorrect

But then there would be less laughter in the world.

The cats and I were pretty freaked out by the hail. Jeff had gone to a beer event earlier and slept right through it.

Three kinds of bourbon county stout made me dead to the world.

Autocorrect is indispensable if you want to type fast on an iPhone - I can nearly touch-type b/c of it - but you can't just let every suggestion stand.

And you can't turn it off, at least not until iOS 5 is released, then it will be an option.

I wouldn't turn it off if I could. I wish I could turn it up. To 11, perhaps.

http://www.avatarsplus.com/d/4184-3/Super+Mario.gif

I like it too. The text macros are going to be nice in iOS 5 too, and custom dictionary.

Three kinds of bourbon county stout made me dead to the world.

Good morning!

I just had a very disappointing Corner Bakery breakfast. I feel forsaken. Actually I'm still having it as I pick through this cup of smashed fruit and stems searching for something edible.

Corner Bakeryyyyyyy!!!!!! Whyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

What is a beer event? It reminded me of when I had a talking-to at my old old job and it was called a "counseling event". I remember being totally enraged.

I need a coffee event, brb.

I'm engaging in a coffee event right now.

btw guys the reading last night was my favorite ever -- nick's spooky guitar playing was super cool and fun to listen to (would gladly listen to outside of this environment hint hint), the sky darkened steadily throughout the short passage D read, and it was followed by a hailstorm of biblical proportions but we were all safe inside drinking fancy cocktails. oh, and people liked the snacks i made. and i saw lots of friends. good times!

i need to get out more.

A beer event is similar to a diaper event.

idk what that is either

You have not lived, my friend.

You will know what that is in September.

Beer Event: Paddy Long's was having a thing where you paid $22 and got unlimited 6 ounce glasses of Goose Island beers, including some hard to find one off special beers, like the aforementioned Bourbon County Vanilla Stout. I did not go because I had to work late (again, and I'm in early again and and and waaaaah) but Jeff enjoyed it.

Jeff also got drunk at said beer event and came home and made dinner and as he aimed spaghetti towards a plate warned me, "Just remember as you're eating this that a drunk man made your dinner."

idk maybe you had to be there but I LOLed pretty hard at that.

You will know what that is in September.

Then I guess I did know what it means. I've spent not an insignificant amount of time babysitting for our friends with three kids under 18 months, so I've dealt with those kind of diaper events. No matter what Jeff says, they are not fun.

i guess that's pretty funny
but yuuuuuk working early/late, sorry yenny

i have never dealt with a serious diaper event ever (i babysat a little when i was a kid, but usually the kids were older, like 6-9, but i did babysit a couple of quiet sleeping babies AND OMG someday i will tell you about what i found in the silverware drawer at that house)

I got peed on once by a baby but no diaper event experience. (I believe Sarah brought that phrase into our lives.)

Man, I heard an '80s synth-pop song in BB&B the other day that I liked. Something familiar, but I had no idea who it was by and I forgot to pay attention to the lyrics so I could come home and google it. So I've just spent the last half hour searching for it in vain on YouTube/iTunes/etc. Bah.

What's it like?

Here's one to take your mind off of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_msHpEa3_Y

Hmmm, I guess I could compare it to OMD or Psychedelic Furs or Simple Minds. I remember a catchy synth line.

like so many songs of that era, i am glad i didn't have to look at the people singing
know what song always reminds me of this part of summer? this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs2kFrGluKs

We went on vacation to the same place every year, and it was just me and my parents. No kids anywhere, no one to talk to. All I did was go to the library (every day for a new book), read, and watch MTV because we didn't have a color tv, much less cable at home. (Occasionally I would splash around in the ocean and write 12 page letters to my friends back home too) The first summer I could watch videos was the summer that "Come Dancing" was on MTV every 5 min. I also saw a lot of Twisted Sister and Godley and Creme. I feel like I went on vacation with these people, that's how much I watched these videos. Sigh.

give us more info john

EZ, I'm a big fan of Nick Heyward's solo single "Kite":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW7n1cNwVWA

xp That's literally all I know! I was just humming along to it in the background and I thought, "Oh, this song, I kind of like this one, but it's not one of the big overplayed '80s hits." But kind of generic, you know? Midtempo. Probably minor-keyish.

you don't remember any words? are there words? male singer?

perhaps?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mkidP2OUCk&feature=related

you don't remember any words? are there words? male singer?

There are words. I don't remember them. Male singer, yeah.

that was a single? i only remember "electric blue"

Corey, that's not it, but it's VERY close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WGVG3_IoG8&playnext=1&list=PLC214E228F463CC25

??

Oh, I just sort of remembered the melody! The chorus is a descending line, and then there's a synth line that echoes it.

I think descending lines and all I get is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXNTRnKOYyM

OK, I really have to go to work now, but I recorded what I remembered of the chorus:
http://soundcloud.com/jmcunning/80ssong#

(BTW, nice Nick Heyward song/video!)

(And Mander, that totally makes me think of going to motels in northern MN as a kid and mostly being excited to turn on the TV and watch cable.)

just to follow up on the hailstorm: R's minivan looks kind of like a golf ball on the roof and hood :/

You guys are freakin me out. I think I'd better go check on my car...

nothing's broken, but there are some dimples if you look at it from the correct angle

One of my coworkers that lives in the south loop area showed me pictures on his iPhone of cars on his block with windshields and headlights blown out from the hail.