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

yeah he talked quite a bit, it was funny

I've never really heard AoL.

Today's You Swoop is for tattoos. I'm not sure that's a good idea.

Hey Jesse thanks for the A/C, it totally whips our old one's ass with a belt.

Good! It's probably more energy efficient too.

we went to the ultraviolet petting zoo, which wasn't really what i was expecting - there was a stage with bands off to the side but mostly it was the same scary shoddy carnival rides they have at other festivals. anyways i saw st3ve alb1ni ride the power shot (the thing where you're strapped in and it sloooooowly rises and then SUDDENLY plummets).

What is the ultraviolet petting zoo? It's easy to misread that as "ultraviolent."

I Googled it. Not at all what I thought it would be.

Anyway, I came here to post this picture of my new building as it appears in a book published in 1917. I live at the top on the long side.

http://i.imgur.com/v4TKx.jpg

wow.

The Newberry Library has a cool history by address search. It's really fun to browse around. That's what I've been doing all evening. http://www.chicagoancestors.org/

Another fun site with historical Chicago pics is http://chicagopc.info/

Chicago History in Postcards

Really glad I decided to come in super early this morning. Hope none of you are stuck out in this mess.

I'm waylaid at Panera. Made it 1/2 block before the bottom fell out. Shheeeeesh.

I just hope it stops by 11

Hope none of you are stuck out in this mess.

Well let me tell you. I made it to Lincoln and Diversey. A bus came, and I decided not to get on it because it was super crowded and I was only a few blocks from the train station. Seconds after it pulled away it started raining and by the time I got to the Mini dealership, I was soaked. Then my umbrella not only blew inside out but actually broke. At that point, I tried to get a taxi, figuring I would dry once I got into the AC at work but the two people in the cab had been chain smoking and I got right back out, because if I sat damp in the back of a smoke-filled cab with the windows shut I would smell disgusting by the time I got to the Loop. So at that point, I just used my umbrella to protect the electronics and library book in my purse and waded back home. By then my shoes were totally soaked and I had mascara running down my face anyway. Oh and I kept my sunglasses on walking home (it was SUNNY when I walked out my front door WTF) because without eye protection, I couldn't see for all the rain blowing directly into my eyes.

I made it back to the house only to find a soaking wet Jeff. He had made it to Lincoln and then had to turn around and come home.

Now I'm waiting for a cab.

I'm supposed to be mini-golfing on Devon later this afternoon.

And now I get a text message that my cab isn't coming and to call the provider, but the provider's number is busy, and apparently the trains are a hot mess, too. MONDAYS, amirite?????

Sorry Jenny :\

Hope your day gets better. Yeah, it was nice and sunny my entire commute, before the hellmouth opened up over the city.

Actually I'm grateful I didn't get on that bus, because then I would have gotten on a train, and my boss spent quite a long time stuck on a train this morning and I'd rather be home waiting for Chicago to get it's act together than standing on a train with a buch of damp, humid, grumpy commuters. So it's not so bad, really, aside from my type A, misplaced sense of duty that is screaming at me to WALK IF YOU MUST BUT GET TO WORK NOWWWW!

It was still dark and foreboding when I left the house at 8:45, but barely raining anymore. Our power went out, though.

Also, apparently Metra service was cancelled; Kr had to drive.

I am always kind of surprised and annoyed when weather fucks up Chicago infrastructure. It's not like sudden, hell mouth weather is unusual around here.

Well Chicago doesn't deal with monsoons very often. It's a different animal.

I feel the same, I'm even more annoyed when snow does it (excepting the Snowtorious B.I.G. earlier this year of course), there is no reason Chicago should be that fazed by three inches of snow.

As the Windy freaking City, our transit system should never shut down due to wind.

wow. sorry chicago.

xp to me Well unless there is a tornado.

We're in a cab on the way to work!

I can understand why even a couple inches of snow causes problems. We have millions of people trying to navigate a congested area, so any sub-optimum conditions are going to have a huge effect.

I made it to work!

What happened? Was there a storm?

Are you out of town? There was a pretty intense but very short storm.

they are teh travelers

/jealous

I was on the platform when the rain started, the train came right away, got downtown with no delays or problems.

Saw more nude men than I have ever seen in one place at the beach today.

What was the previous count? Just curious.

I dunno 3? (lol skinny dipping)

Haha yeah I think my count for naked women in one place is about that, too, and for the exact same reason. But there were at least as many men as well, so.

The Nathalie Imbro "Torn" (the "lying naked on the floor" song) thread has opened my eyes. I can't believe that people of my generation tolerate, much less love, that song.

Mentioning that here b/c that thread has turned to discussions of Smurfs and Care Bears and I would feel like too much of a troll badmouthing it in the thread anyway. Anyway underratedaerosmith has it handled.

That song and "I Hope You Dance" make me want to eat a bullet. I Hope You Dance is worse, though.

I think I'm done hating for now. I'm a man of strong passions.

This is my safe space where I am humored.

I'm ready to do a thesis on "Torn."

But then I kinda like "I Hope You Dance," too. It's OK, Jesse--it's like being tolerant of different religions. We can still get along.

But Eric, I am being intolerant.

I will say for "Torn": I really like the line "That's what's going on." Maybe we've talked about this before? I love super ordinary lines like that that somehow mean more than they should.

Yes, yes, like "I never learn" in G'n'R's "Night Train."

When I think about music of the last decade that I hate, I think of two songs: Torn and the one about "Feel the rain on your skin (no one else can feel it for you)."

Wait, Torn is older than a decade, isn't it? Whatever. It's still a terrible song.

has anyone made a joke about an "imbruglia imbroglio" on that thread yet?

I like "Torn" because it reminds me of being 13 and paying attention to the radio for the first time, though I agree that it's dumb. That "feel the rain on your skin" is much more indefensible because of how fucking UBIQUITOUS it was (and probably still is on ads for female shaving products, I don't know).