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

thanks Jenny. It will certainly be stressful, but it needs to be done...

Hey 3r1c, sorry for your loss and stress.

Hi Chicago I am in your airport and your weather is kind of insane - when the plane doors opened it was like someone shot the plane full of hot wet disgustingness.

you're welcome

Hello! Welcome to the inside of Chicago's mouth.

what did I tell you

Yeah we just walked outside to the UP puddle jumper and achieved instant swamp ass.

Tom Robbins wrote that Louisiana in September is like an obscene phone call from nature, which I think about on days like today.

Hi jeffgoat.

My redneck ex-bf said that was a stupid line b/c he thought getting obscene phone calls was a turn-on.

First PDP self-titled album (with the breakfast song) is great, as is much of their 2nd one--from long, long ago, long before they relocated to Chicago. No idea what they're like now.

I'm off in a few weeks to do what's turning into annual house/dog-sitting in Ojai, CA, but that's not 'til August.

I admit I've never heard of Ojai, CA but it sounds cool

This is the town's bookstore:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yTZf4U8imG0/Thf1Wq2gspI/AAAAAAAANKg/n1Qu7VR_U2I/s1600/barts3.jpg

Which, holy shit, brings back a very long forgotten memory! When we lived the small shithole town in the foothills of Appalachia, we started getting calls from a guy who knew a lot about us (names, friends, workplace). His voice and slang sounded young. He just wanted to chat, and he wouldn't tell us any more than his first name or anything about himself except that he was gay.

After a while it was like he was a friend, and we would chat with him a couple times a week. We tried to get him to come over for a beer and a threesome, but I absolutely cannot remember if he came over or not, or what came of the situation.

What the hell else is locked in amber in my noggin??

several xposts to myself

I need one of you to apply for this job:

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/fbh/2501502073.html

Then cook me burgers.

maybe 10 years ago

that sounds like hell.

I have to say, being a cook sounds awful, even in a fancy $$$ place.

When it's awful, it's really awful. I feel like I should also say it can be fun and challenging and rewarding but there is less of that than the awful tbh.

That job sounds like a recipe for acne.

I made pizzas at the fancy pizza place in GSO and that wasn't bad. But it wasn't hot work and it was extremely easy, so that was fun.

dan m OTM. Front of the house has its problems, but there is less sweating and I'm less inclined to end up with stitches.

But yeah, any job that warns of the unbearable hotness of cooking in the want ad is clearly not for me.

xp being a cook at Pizza Hut was super easy because it was more like working on a pizza assembly line. The prep part was fun because there were all these industrial slicing, dicing, and dough mixing machines.

They pay is good, at least. That's the shittiest thing about so many back of house jobs, you work your ass off for terrible money. Even for positions that take at least some skill at nicer places, IME.

Yeah, Em1ly's n13c3 works at 3v3r3st (she's graduated from chef school and all that and this is her first post-grad job) and she loves it and it's totally the right kind of stepping stone job for her chosen career (obviously - it's a pretty sought after position) but she is paid less than minimum wage. Which is really shitty, frankly.

I just want burgers.

The office A/C completely stopped working :(

Run!

This is terrible. Once the HVAC people contact me to schedule their appointment, I'm going home. I will not work under these conditions.

It was so weird to flip past Q101 this morning and hear latter day Bon Jovi followed by some corny DJ talking to a woman about how much she loves chocolate.

It's my life, it's now or never

Thats the one.

Jesse-due to the extreme heat, our boss has told us to work half days tomorrow and Thursday, and/or to work from home. Hooray for feeble window a/c units!

The weather is doing that weird thing again where it is hot as fuck with fog rolling in from the lake.

was just reading about that

The National Weather Servicde has also issued a dense fog advisory until 4 p.m. this afternoon for areas along the lake. The fog happens when the cooler lake air mixes with the high humidity over the land; the resulting fog and low lying clouds will dimish quickly the farther away from the lake you get.

Is everyone not off in exotic locales passed out in front of fans and air conditioners today?

I am in the office that has no A/C, but the guy is here and it will soon!

The problem was that the cottonwood fluff blocked the condenser completely.

Sounds like a thankfully easy and cheap fix.

Yes, though we are on the 6th floor and the coil is on the side of the building, so it's going to be a little challenging to reach.

God, crazy thunderstorms last night! did anybody else lose power for a while?

Hey CHILX, just wanted to let you know that I'm starting to ponder this possible likely visit to your city later this summer.

Yay!

When? FAP?

AJ: What? We had thunderstorms? When?

My work schedule lets me be pretty flexible -- any time from mid-August to mid-September is good. So I can work it around meetup opportunities, musical happenings, Cubs homestands, all of the above, whatever.

FAP!

Like 3 AM?? There was hail and it sounded very close. Power went out for at least an hour, but it was back when I woke up.

xp

Yeah, particularly loud thunderstorms rolled through at like 3:00 or so? I think thats the timing, I was thrown off because I had to get up at 4:30 to see my wife off to the airport, then went back to bed for a couple hours. I'm pretty sure the storms rolled through before the first time I woke up.

WMC, keep us updated. I'm down with getting together.

xp - wow, I didn't hear anything at all. I am staying at my boss' condo in River North, so maybe they weren't as heavy there. And the walls are extremely thick, so maybe it was muffled.

Oh man, Chicago, I saw the most disgusting savagery from Philladelphia Phillies fans after work last night. I went to get on the redline at the Harrison stop and there was a group of about 7 or 8 Phillies fans trying to figure out how they could game the CTA system be squeezing through the turnstiles 2 (or more) at a time. It turned into quite a cluster and they were standing arguing about it, blocking both turnstiles at the entrance. I politely asked if I could squeeze by into one of the turnstiles, but they ignored me. At about the same time a southbound train dropped off a bunch of people, who had climbed the stairs only to find that they couldn't exit through either turnstile because of these doofuses. A guy on the exiting side asked if they could move over to one turnstile or the other to let people get out. One of the Phillies fans got enraged by this and shouted, "fuck you, you can wait!" then proceeded to grab the bars of the turnstile and hold them so no one could get out, while one of his buddies did the same to the other turnstile. After about 2 minutes of really uncomfortable screaming between people on boths sides of the stiles, someone from the exiting side finally threw a full can of pop at one of the dudes and they decided to let go. There was some pushing, shoving, and screaming after that but I hightailed it through the now clear turnstiles and avoided the fracas.

Sorry for the long story, but the entire thing was so weird.

I woke up and heard thunder, dunno what time.

I spent too much money at L&E last night but it was gooood.

!! RAGE!!!

Haha xp - not raging at your dinner, Dan.

I mean, WTF. jump the turnstile if you're going to try to cheat the CTA. Also, let me punch you in the taco, assholes.